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THREE BOOKS OF 



OCCULT PHILOSOPHY OR MAGIC 



BY THE FAMOUS MYSTIC 



/ 



HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA 

VON NETTESHEIM 

COUNSELOR TO CHARLES THE FIFTH, EMPEROR OF GERMANY, AND 
JUDGE OF THE PREROGATIVE COURT. 



T 



BOOK ONE — NATURAL MAGIC 

WHICH INCIiTJDES 

THE EARLY LIFE OF AGRIPPA, HIS SEVENTY-FOUR CHAPTERS ON 

NATURAL MAGIC, NEW NOTES, ILLUSTRATIONS, INDEX, 

AND OTHER ORIGINAL AND SELECTED MATTER. 

EDITED BY 

WILLIS F. WHITEHEAD 



By Direction of the Brotherhood of Magic: 
THE MAGIC MIRROR 

A MESSAGE TO MYSTICS CONTAINING FULL, INSTRUCTIONS ON ITS MAKE AND USE. 



" A quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore."— Poe. 



CHICAGO 
HAHN & WHITEHEAD 

1898 




I^i^qV*^ ^ 






Copyrighted, 

November 17, 1897, by 

Hahn & Whitehead, Chicago. 




HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 



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if ^ if ^ ir i^ -k 

^ THIS -Cz WORK i^ 

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^ PHILOSOPHY, i^ 
if OR <1X NATURAL ^ 

i^ MAGIC, • BY ■j:;r 
if i^ if ^ if ^ if THAT ^ PURE if ^ ir i^ if -d if 
i:i MYSTIC, • THINKER i^ AND lir TEACHER, * SCHOLAR, ^ 

* STATESMAN, * PHILOSOPHER ^ AND i:^ AUTHOR, * 

^ HENRY ^ CORNELIUS ^ AGRIPPA ^ 

• WAS i;:? BROUGHT i^ FORTH t; BY i^ HIM * THOUGH * 
•5:1? SLANDER, i^ EDICT, * AND -j^ ENEMIES i^ OPPOSED. -^ 
if ^ if i^ if i^ ic ^b:e^ lived, if ^ ic i:^ if ^ if 

iZ toiled * AND 1!^ 

• TRIUMPHED IN * 
•i^ THIS -Cz CAUSE, i^ 
if iz TO ^ THOSE * 
iz WHO • HAVE i^r 
if AiIIrLOVEi^IrFOR • 
-Cz TRUTH • AND t!!? 

• MYSTIC iz ART * 
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if EDITION • IS • 
^ DEDICATED. * -^ 

if i^ if -Cz if iz if 



A^rippa. 

Mr. Henry Morley, an eminent English scholar, in his Life of Cornelius 
Agrippa, makes these tributary statements: 

He secured the hest honors attainable in art and arms ; was acquainted 
with eight languages, being the master of six. His natural bent had been 
from early youth to a consideration of Divine Mysteries. To learn these 
and teach them to others had been at all times his chief ambition. He is 
distinguished among the learned for his cultivation of Occult Philosophy, 
upon which he has written a complete work. 



CONTEI^TS. 



Introductory. 

Editors Preface 13 

Early Life of Agrippa 15 

Cornelius Agrippa to the Reader 25 

Agrippa to Trithemius 28 

Trithemius to Agrippa 31 



Natural Ma^ic. 

I. How Magicians Collect Virtues from the Three- 
fold World, is Declared in these Three Books . . 33 

II. What Magic Is, What are the Parts thereof and 

Hoiv the Professors thereof must he Qualified . . 34 

III. Of the Four Elements, their Qualities, and Mut- 

ual Mixtions 38 

IV. Of a Three fold Consideration of the Elements . . 40 

V. Of the Wonderful Natures of Fire and Earth. . . 42 x. 

VI. Of the Wonderful Natures of Water, Air and 

Winds 44 

VII. Of the Kinds of Compounds, tvhat Relation they 
stand in to the Elements, and tvhat Relation 
there is betwixt the Elements themselves and 
the Soul, Senses and Dispositions of Men 53 

VIII. How the Elements are in the Heavens, in Stars, 
in Devils, in Angels, and, lastly, in God him- 
self 55 

5 



6 LIST OF CONTENTS. 

IX. Of the Virtues of things Natural, depending 

immediately upon Elements 58 

X. Of the Occult Virtues of Things 59 

X XI. How Occult Virtues are Infused into the several 
kinds of Things by Ideas, through the Help 
of the Soul of the World, and Bays of the 
Stars; and what Things abound most ivith 
this Virtue 62 

XII. How it is that Particular Virtues are Infused 
into Particular Individuals, even of the same 
Species 64 

XIII. Whence the Occult Virtues of Things Proceed . . 65 

XIV. Of the Spirit of the World, What It Is, and hoio 

by way of medium It Unites occult Virtues to 
their Subjects 69 

!' XV. How loe must Find Out and Examine the Vir- 
tues of Tilings by way of Similitude 71 

XVI. Hoiu the Operations of several Virtues Pass 
from one thing into another, and are Com- 
municated one to the other 74 

XVII. How by Enmity and Friendship the Virtues of 

things are to be Tried and Found Out 75 

XVIII. Of the Inclinations of Enmities 78 

XIX. How the Virtues of Things are to be Tried and 
Found Out, which are in them Specifically, or 
in any one Individual by way of Special Gift . 82 

XX. The Natural Virtues are in some Things 
throughout their Whole Substance, and in 
other Things in Certain Parts and Members. 83 

XXI. Of the Virtues of Things ivhich are in them 
only in their Life Time, and Such as Remain 
in them even After their Death 85 



LIST OF CONTENTS. 7 

XXII. How Inferior Things are Subjected to Supe- 
rior Bodies, and lioiv the Bodies, Actions, 
and Dispositions of Men are Ascribed to 
Stars and Signs 87 

XXIII. How ive shall Know tvhat Stains Natural 

Things are Under, and tvhat Tilings are 
Under the Sun, ivhich are called Solary ... 91 

XXIV. What Things are Lunary, or Under the 

Power of the Moon 95 

XXV. What Things are Saturnine, or Under the 

Power of Saturn 97 - 

XXVI. What Things are Under the Poiver of Jupi- 
ter, and are called Jovial 100 ^ 

XXVII. What Things are Under the Poiver of Mars, 

and are called Martial 101 • 

XXVIII. What Things are Under the Power of Venus, 

and are called Venereal 102 

XXIX. What Things are Under the Power of Mer- 
cury, and are called Mercurial 103 

XXX. That the Whole Sublunary World, and those 
Things which are in It, are Distributed to 
Planets 104 

XXXI. How Provinces and Kingdoms are Distributed 

to Planets 105 

XXXII. What Things are Under the Signs, the Fixed 

Stars, and their Images 107 

XXXIII. TJie Seals and Characters of Natural Things . 110^ 

XXXIV. How, by Natural Things and their Virtues, 

ive may Draw Forth and Attract the Influ- 
ences and Virtues of Celestial Bodies 114 — 

XXXV. Of the Mixtions of Natural Things, one with 

another, and their Benefit 115 



8 LIST OF CONTENTS. 

XXXVI. Of the Union of Mixed Things, and the 
Introduction of a More Noble Form, and 
the Senses of Life 117 

XXXVII. How, by some certain Natural and Artificial 
Preparations, We May Attract certain 
Celestial and Vital Gifts 118 

XXXVIII. Hoiv We May Draiv not only Celestial and 
y Vital but also certain Intellectual and 

Divine Gifts from Above 121 

XXXIX. That We May, by some certain Matters of 
the World, Stir Up the Gods of the World 
and their Ministering Spirits 123 

XL. Of Bindings; ivhat Sort they are of, and in 

ivhat Ways they are ivont to be Done .... 124 

XLI. Of Sorceries, and their Poiver 125 

XLII. Of the Wonderful Virtues of some Kinds of 

Sorceries 127 

XLIII. Of Perfumes or Suffumigations; their Man- 
ner and Poiver 132 

XLIV. The Composition of some Fumes appropri- 
ated to the Planets 135 

^ XLV. Of Collyries, Unctions, Love- Medicines, and 

their Virtues 137 

XLVI. Of Natural Alligations and Suspensions . . 139 

Y^ XLVII. Of Magical Rings and their Compositions . 141 

XL VIII. Of the Virtue of Places, and what Places 

are Suitable to every Star 143 

y XLIX. Of Light, Colors, Candles and Lamps, and 
^1 to what Stars, Houses and Elements sev- 
eral Colors are Ascribed 146 

L. Of Fascination, and the Art thereof 150 



LIST OF CONTENTS. ' 9 

LI. Of certain Observations, Producing ivonderful 

Virtues 152 

LII. Of the Countenance and Gesture, the Habit and 
the Figure of the Body, and to tuhat Stars 
any of these do Ansioer; tahence Physiognomy, 
and Bletoposcopy, and Chiromancy, Arts of 
Divination, have their Grounds ... 155 

LIII. Of Divination, and the Kinds thereof 158 

LIV. Of divers certain Animals, and other things, 

luhich have a Signification in Auguries 161 

LV. How Auspicias are Verified by the Light of Nat- 
ural Instinct, and of some Rules of Finding 
of It Out 169 

LVI. Of the Soothsaying s of Flashes and Light- 
nings, and how Monstrous and Prodigious 
Tilings are to be Interpreted 175 

LVII. Of Geomancy, Hydromancy, Aeromancy, and 

Pyromancy, Four Divinations of Elements . . 177 

LVIII. Of the Reviving of the Dead, and of Sleeping 

or Hibernating (luanting victuals) Many /^ 
Years together 180 

LIX. Of Divination by Dreams 184 

LX. Of Madness, and Divinations ivhich are made 
lohen men are awake, and of the Power of 
a Melancholy Humor, by ivhich Spirits are 
sometimes induced into Men's Bodies 186 

LXI. Of the Forming of Man, of the External Senses, 
also those Inward, and the Mind; and of the 
Tfiree-fold Appetite of the Soul, and Passions 
of the Will 190 

LXII. Of the Passions of the Mind, their Original 

Source, Differences, and Kinds 194 



/ 



V 



10 LIST OF CONTENTS. 

LXIII. How the Passions of the Mind change the 
proper Body by changing its Accidents and 
moving the Spirit 195 

LXIV. How the Passions of the Mind change the 
Body by way of Imitation from some 
Resemblance; of the Transforming and 
Translating of Men, and tvhat Force the 
Imaginative Power hath, not only over the 
Body but the Soul 197 

LXV. Hoiv the Passions of the Mind can Work of 

themselves upon Another's Body 200 

LXVI. That the Passions of the Mind are Helped by 
a Celestial Season, and hoiv Necessary the 
Constancy of the Mind is in every Work. . . 203 

LXVII. Hotu the Mind of Man may be Joined with 
the Mind of the Stars, and Intelligences of 
the Celestials, and, together with them, 
Impress certain tvonderful Virtues upon 
inferior Things 204 

LXVIII. How our Mind can Change and Bind inferior 

Things to the Ends ivhich we Desire 206 

LXIX. Of Speech, and the Occult Vfrtue of Words. . 207 

LXX. Of the Virtue of Proper Names 208 

LXXI. Of many Words joined together, as in Sen- 
tences and Verses; and of the Virtues and 

Astrictions of Charms 210 

LXXII. Of the wonderful Power of Enchantments . . 213 

LXXIII. Of the Virtue of Writing, and of Making 

Imprecations, and Inscriptions 215 

LXXIV. Of the Proportion, Correspondency, and Re- 
duction of Letters to the Celestial Signs and 
Planets, According to various Tongues, and 
a Table thereof 216 



LIST OF CONTENTS. 11 

By Henry Morley. 

Criticism on Agrippa's Natural Magic 221 

Agrippa and the Rosicrucians 223 

Exposition of the Cabala 231 _- 

Neio Table of the Cabala and Tarot (specially compiled) . 240 

The Mirific Word ' 242 

Beuchlin the Mystic 244 

Agrippa Expounds Beuchlin 252 

The NobUity of Woman 255 

Original and Selected. 

Order of the Empyrean Heaven 269 

Symbols of the Alchemists 275 

The Magic Mirror, a Message to Mystics 279 > 

Illustrations and Etchings. 

Henry Cornelius Agrippa Frontispiece 

Title-page of 1651 Edition, facing 32 

Grand Solar Man, facing 90 

Calamus 94 

Characters of Nature 112 

Divine Letters 113 

Cabalistical Table of Co-ordinate Characters 220 

Tree of the Cabala, three full-page etchings, facing .... 238 

The Empyrean Heaven, facing 268 

Rosicruxiian Symbol of the Spirit of Nature, facing. . . . 270 

Symbols of the Alchemists 276 



The Occult Philosophy. 

Judicious Reader: This is true and sublime Occult Philosophy. To 
understand the mysterious influences of the intellectual world upon the 
celestial, and of hoth upon the terrestrial; and to know how to dispose and 
fit ourselves so as to he capable of receiving the superior operations of 
these worlds, whereby we may be enabled to operate wonderful things by a 
natural power— to discover the secret counsels of men, to increase riches, 
to overcome enemies, to procure the favor of men, to expel diseases, to pre- 
serve health, to prolong life, to renew youth, to foretell future events, to 
see and know things done many miles off, and such like as these. These 
things may seem incredible, yet read but the ensuing treatise and thou 
Shalt see the possibility confirmed both by reason and example. 

—J. F., the translator of the English edition of 1651. 



1 



PREFACE. 



In the last half of 1509 and the first months of 1510, 
Cornelius Agrippa, known in his day as a Magician, 
gathered together all the Mystic lore he had obtained 
by the energy and ardor of youth and compiled it into 
the elaborate system of Magic, in three books, known 
as Occult Philosophy, the first book of which — Natural 
Magic — constitutes the present volume. Agrippa pub- 
lished his Occult Philosophy, with additional chap- 
ters, in 1533. The only English translation appeared 
in London in 1651. It is a thoroughly edited and 
revised edition of this latter work that we produce. 
Some translating has been done and missing parts sup- 
plied. The reader is assured that while we have mod- 
ified some of the very broad English of the seventeenth 
century, that he has a thoroughly valid work. Due 
care has been taken to preserve all the quaintness of 
the English text as far as consistent with plain read- 
ing. We have endeavored to do full justice to our 
author, the demands of those purely mystical, and the 
natural conservatism of the antiquary and collector. 
In this we believe we have fully succeeded. 

The life of Agrippa, up to the time of writing his 
Occult Philosophy, is also given, drawn mostly from 
Henry Morley's excellent life of Cornelius Agrippa. 

That part of the volume credited to Mr. Morley 
may be designated as an honest skeptic's contribution 
to Mysticism, and his chapters are produced entire, as 
justice to both him and Agrippa cannot be done other- 
wise, and they are an especially valuable part of Mys- 
tic literature. 

13 



14 editor's preface. 

The table of the Cabala, newly compiled for this 
volume, will be found to possess superior features over 
all others. 

Following the above we give a chapter on the Em- 
pyrean Heaven, which will explain much that our 
author has written. It is derived mainly from an old 
occult work on " Physic. " 

The Symbols of the Alchemists will be found both 
useful and instructive. The chapter on the Magic 
Mirror, which ends the work, is believed to be the best 
contribution on the subject extant. 

All the original illustrations and some new and 
selected ones will be found, as also various etchings of 
characters. That one on the Empyrean Heaven con- 
tains, we have cause to believe, some of the very hid- 
den knowledge relating to the Lost Word. It is a 
much older plate than the work it was taken from. 

Some parts of the volume will interest those who 
love to work out hidden things. 

The editor conveys his warmest thanks to those 
friends who have encouraged him in the work — on the 
Cabala table, the illustration of the Grand Solar Man 
and the translating — outside of which he has not asked 
or received any help. This being the case our friends 
will please excuse any particular thing that may not 
sound pleasantly to the ear. 

A general index will be inserted in the third and 
concluding volume of the Occult Philosophy. 



EARLY LIFE OF CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 



At Cologne, on the 14th of September, 1486, there 
was born into the noble house of Nettesheim a son, 
whom his parents called in baptism Henry Cornelius 
Agrippa. Some might, at first thought, suppose that 
the last of the three was a Christian name likely to 
find especial favor with the people of Cologne, the 
site of whose town, in days of Roman sovereignty, 
Marcus Agrippa's camp suggested and the colony of 
Agrippina fixed. But the existence of any such pre- 
dilection is disproved by some volumes filled with the 
names of former natives of Cologne. There were as 
few Agrippas there as elsewhere, the use of the name 
being everywhere confined to a few individuals taken 
from a class that was itself not numerous. A child 
who came into the world feet-foremost was called an 
Agrippa by the Romans, and the word itself, so Aulus 
Gellius explains it, was invented to express the idea, 
being compounded of the trouble of the woman and 
the feet of the child. The Agrippas of the sixteenth 
century were usually sons of scholars, or of persons in 
the upper ranks, who had been mindful of a classic 
precedent; and there can be little doubt that a pecu- 
liarity attendant on the very first incident in the life 
here to be told was expressed by the word used as 
appendix to an already sufiicient Christian name. 

The son thus christened became a scholar and a sub- 
ject of discussion among scholars, talking only Latin 
to the world. His family name. Von Nettesheim, he 
never latinised, inasmuch as the best taste suggested 
that — ^if a Latin designation was most proper for a 
scholar — he could do, or others could do for him, 

2 15 



16 EARLY LIFE OF AGRIPPA. 

nothing simpler than to set apart for literary purposes 
tliat half of his real style which was already com- 
pletely Roman. Henry Cornelius Agrippa von Net- 
tesheim became therefore to the world what he is 
also called in this narrative — Cornelius Agrippa. 

He is the only member of the family of Nettesheim 
concerning whom any records have been left for the 
instruction of posterity. Nettesheim itself is a place 
of little note, distant about twenty-five miles to the 
southwest of Cologne, It lies in a valley, through 
which flows the stream from one of the small sources 
of the Roer. The home of the Von Nettesheims, when 
they were not personally attached to the service of 
the emperor, was at Cologne. The ancestors of Cor- 
nelius Agrippa had been for generations in the service 
of the royal house of Austria; his father had in this 
respect walked in the steps of his forefathers, and 
from a child Cornelius looked for nothing better than 
to do the same. 

It is proper to mention that among the scholars of 
Germany one, who before the time of Agrippa was 
known as the most famous of magicians, belonged to 
the same city of Cologne; for there, in the thirteenth 
Century, Albertus Magnus taught, and it is there that 
he is buried. 

Born in Cologne did not mean in 1486 what it has 
meant for many generations almost until now — born 
into the darkness of a mouldering receptacle of relics. 
Then the town was not priest-ridden, but rode its 
priests. For nearly a thousand years priestcraft and 
handicraft have battled for predominance within its 
walls. Priestcraft expelled the Jews, banished the 
weavers, and gained thoroughly the mastery at last. 
But in the time of Cornelius Agrippa handicraft was 
uppermost, and in sacred Cologne every trader and 
mechanic did his part in keeping watch on the arch- 



TROUBLES OF THE JEWS. 17 

bishop. Europe contained then but few cities that 
were larger, busier, and richer, for the Rhine was a 
main highway of commerce, and she was enriched, not 
only by her manufacturers and merchants, but, at the 
same time also, by a large receipt of toll. Commerce 
is the most powerful antagonist to despotism, and in 
whatever place both are brought together one of them 
must die. 

Passing by the earlier times to about the year 1350 
there arose a devilish persecution of the Jews in many 
parts of Europe, and the Jews of Cologne, alarmed by 
the sufferings to which others of their race had been 
exposed, withdrew into their houses, with their wives 
and children, and burnt themselves in the midst of 
their possessions. The few who had flinched from 
this self-immolation were banished, and their houses 
and lands, together with all the land that had belonged 
to Cologne Jews, remained as spoils in the hands of 
the Cologne Christians. All having been converted 
into cash, the gains of the transaction were divided 
equally between the town and the archbishop. The 
Jews, twenty years later, were again allowed to reside 
in the place on payment of a tax for the protection 
granted them. 

In 1369 the city was again in turmoil, caused by a 
dispute concerning privileges between the authorities 
of the church and the town council. The weavers, as 
a democratic body, expressed their views very strong 
and there was fighting in the streets. The weavers 
were subdued; they fled to the churches, and were 
slain at the altars. Eighteen hundred of them, all 
who survived, were banished, suffering, of course, 
confiscation of their property, and Cologne being 
cleared of all its weavers — who had carried on no 
inconsiderable branch of manufacture — their guild was 
demolished. This event occurred twenty years after 



18 * EARLY LIFE OF AGRIPPA. 

the town had lost, in the Jews, another important 
part of its industrial population, and the proud city 
thus was passing- into the first stage of its decay. 

In 1388 an university was established at Colog-ne, 
upon the model of the University of Paris. Theology 
and scholastic philosophy were the chief studies culti- 
vated in it, and they were taught in such a way as to 
win many scholars from abroad. Eight years after- 
wards, churchmen, nobles, and traders were again con- 
testing their respective claims, and blood was again 
shed in the streets. The nobles, assembled by night 
at a secret meeting, were surprised, and the final con- 
quest of the trading class was in that way assured. 
A new constitution was then devised, continuing in 
force during the lifetime of Cornelius Agrippa. 

The Von Nettesheims were likely to be on better 
terms with the archbishop than with the party who 
opposed him, and they were in the emperor's service. 
This must have influenced the early years of Agrippa. 
In these early years he displayed a rare aptitude for 
study, and, as Cologne was an university town and 
printing, discovered shortly before his birth, was car- 
ried on there in the production of Latin classics, the 
writings of ascetics, scholastics, and mystics like 
Thomas Aquinas and Albertus Magnus, it was only 
natural he should avail his eager desire for knowledge 
at these sources. . He was remarkably successful in 
the study of European languages also, becoming pro- 
ficient in several. Thus his years of home training 
were passed until he arrived at the age when princes 
are considered fit to be produced at court. He then 
left Cologne and became an attendant on the Emperor 
of Germany, Maximilian the First, whom he served 
first as a secretary, afterwards for seven years as a 
soldier. At the age of twenty he was employed on 
secret service by the German court. At this time 



FORMS A MYSTIC BROTHERHOOD. 19 

Spain was in a chaotic political condition. Ferdinand, 
the widower of Isabella, was excluded from the crown 
after his wife's death, that inheritance having passed 
with his daughter Joanna, as a dower, to her husband 
Philip, who was the son of Maximilian. In Septem- 
ber, 1506, Philip died, shortly before having declared 
war against France. Thus it was that Cornelius went 
to Paris, ostensibly to attend the university there, but 
in reality to keep Maximilian advised of the important 
news regarding the French. In the capacity of secret 
service, in which he was engaged more than once, he 
showed himself abundantly able to preserve diplo- 
matic secrets, though concerning his own affairs he 
was open, frank, and free. Thus he is silent in regard 
to official duties at this time. In attending the uni- 
versity Agrippa came in contact with several other 
minds who had a love for the occult — mystics who 
found in him a natural leader to guide them into the 
realms of the unknown. With these he organized a 
secret band of Theosophists, or possibly Rosicrucians. 
Among these mystics was one more prominent as the 
friend of Agrippa, who might be regarded as second in 
leadership, an Italian by the name of Blasius Caesar 
Landulphus, who afterwards became noted in medi- 
cine, and also a professor in the University of Pavia. 
Among them were MM. Germain, advocate, and author 
of a history of Charles V., etc.; Gaigny, theologian, 
linguist, Latin poet, and successively procurator, rec- 
tor, and chancellor of the Paris University; Charles 
Foucard, M. de Molinflor, Charles de Bouelles, canon, 
professor of theology, and author of works on meta- 
physics and geometry, among which he treated of the 
quadrature of the circle and the cubication of the 
sphere, and other unusual matters; Germain de Brie, 
canon, linguist, and writer of Greek verse; MM. Fasch, 
Wigand, and Clairchamps; and Juanetin Bascara de 



20 EARLY LIFE OF AGRIPPA. 

Gerona, a young- Catalonian nobleman, temporarily at 
Paris while on his way to the court of Maximilian, 

Disturbances in Spain had spread to Arag^on and 
Catalonia, and in the district of Tarragon the Catalo- 
nians had chased one of their local masters, the Senor 
de Gerona, the last named of the secret band above. 
Agrippa and his friends devised a plan whereby Gerono 
could be restored to his estates. The capture of a 
fortification known as the Black Fort was necessary 
to the enterprise, and to effect this a daring stratagem 
was decided upon. As the whole province of Tarragon 
could thus be held against the rebellious peasantry it 
was believed the emperor, Maximilian, would sanction 
the enterprise in behalf of his kin, and Gerona went 
to the German court for this purpose. Agrippa also 
returned to Cologne for a season early in 1507. 

It was over a year afterwards when the plans of the 
conspirators were carried out. The Black Fort was 
captured, as planned, by a stratagem. After remain- 
ing there for a time, Agrippa was sent with some 
others to garrison the place of Gerona at Villarodona. 
Landulph had, meanwhile, gone to Barcelona, and it 
and it was deemed prudent that Gerono, the peasants 
of the whole country being now in arms, should join 
him there. Gerona was, however, captured by the 
infuriated rustics, who immediately organized them- 
selves in great force to storm his castle and extermi- 
nate the garrison there, who, in Gerona 's absence, were 
under the charge of Agrippa. Timely warning of the 
attack was conveyed to the garrison. To escape by 
breaking through the watches of the peasantry was 
madness, to remain was equally futile. But one way 
of escape presented itself — an old, half -ruined tower 
three miles distant, situated in one of the mountain 
wildernesses which characterize the district of Vails. 
The tower stood in a craggy, cavernous valley, where 



ADVENTURES IN SPAIN. 21 

the broken mountains make way for a gulf containing- 
stagnant waters, and jagged, inaccessible rocks hem 
it in. At the gorge by which this place is entered 
stood the tower, on a hill which was itself surrounded 
by deep bogs and pools, while it also was within a 
ring of lofty crags. There was but one way to this 
tower, except when the ground was frozen, and these 
events happened in the midsummer of 1508. The way 
among the pools was by a narrow path of stone, with 
turf walls as hedges. The site of the tower made it 
inexpugnable in summer time. It was owned by an 
abbot, who gave them permission to occupy and fortify 
it. This they accordingly done, having a poor bailiff, 
in charge of the place, for company. 

The retreat to the tower was safely accomplished 
under cover of night. Gerona's place was sacked the 
next day by the peasants, who sought fiercely for the 
German, as they termed Agrippa. The hiding place of 
the conspirators becoming known, the flood of wrath 
poured down towards the tower, but the strength of 
the position was then felt. With a barricade of over- 
thrown w^agons the sole path to the besieged was 
closed, and behind this barrier they posted themselves 
with their arquebuses, of which one only sufficed to 
daunt a crowd of men accustomed to no weapons 
except slings or bows and arrows. The peasantry, 
discovering that the tower was not to be stormed, set- 
tled down to lay strict siege to the place and thereby 
starve its little garrison into surrender. 

Perilous weeks were passed by the adventurers, but 
more formidable than actual conflict was the famine 
consequent on their blockade. Perrot, the keeper, 
taking counsel with himself as how to help his guests 
and rid himself of them at the same time, explored 
every cranny of the wall of rock by which they were 
surrounded. Clambering among the wastes, with feet 



22 EARLY LIFE OF AGRIPPA. 

accustomed to the difficulties of the mountain, hei dis- 
covered at last a devious and rugged way, by which 
the obstacles of crag and chasm were avoided and the 
mountain top reached. Looking down from there he 
saw how, on the other side, the mountain rose out of 
a lake, known as the Black Lake, having an expanse 
of about four miles, upon the farther shore of which 
his master's abbey stood. He found a way to the lake 
through a rocky gorge, but from there to the abbey 
was a long way, and, to men without a boat, the lake 
was a more impassible barrier than the mountain. He 
returned to the tower, where the little garrison heard 
the result of his explorations. It was seen that a boat 
was necessary to effect an escape, and to procure that 
a letter would have to be sent through the ranks of 
the vigilant besiegers, whose sentries were posted at all 
points, and who allowed no one to approach the tower; 
not even the good abbot himself, who had vainly tried 
to turn the peasants from their purpose. 

Under these circumstances the ingenuity of Agrippa 
was severely tested, and he justified the credit he had 
won for subtle wit. The keeper had a son, a shepherd- 
boy, and Agrippa disfigured him with stains of milk- 
thistle and the juice of other herbs, befouled his skin 
and painted it with shocking spots to imitate the 
marks of leprosy, fixed his hair into a filthy bunch, 
dressed him like a beggar, and gave him a crooked 
branch for a stick, within which there was scooped a 
hollow for the letter. Upon the boy so disguised — a 
fearful picture of the outcast leper — the leper's bell 
was hung, his father seated him on an ox, and led him 
by night across the marshes by the ford, where he left 
him. Stammering, as he went, petitions for alms, the 
boy walked without difficulty by a very broad road 
made for ham among the peasantry, who regarded his 
approach with terror and fled from his path. The let- 



THE ESCAPE. ■ 23 

ter was safely delivered, the boy returning" the next 
day with the desired answer, ringing his bell at the 
border of the marsh at dark for his father to bring 
him in. Agrippa and his companions spent the night 
in preparations for departure. Towards dawn they 
covered their retreat by a demonstration of their usual 
state of watchfulness, fired their guns, and gave other 
indications of their presence. This done, they set 
forth, in dead silence, carrying their baggage, and 
were guided by Perrot, the keeper, to the summit. 
There they lay gladly down among the stones to rest, 
while their guide descended on the other side and 
spread a preconcerted signal, a white cloth, upon a 
rock. When he returned they ate the breakfast they 
had brought with them, all sitting with their eyes 
towards the lake. At about nine o'clock two fisher- 
men's barks were discerned, which hoisted a red flag, 
the good abbot's signal. Rejoicing at the sight of 
this, the escaped men fired off their guns in triumph 
from the mountain-top, a hint to the besieging peas- 
antry of their departure, and, at the same time, a sig- 
nal to the rescuers. Still following Perrot, they next 
descended, along ways by him discovered, through the 
rocky gorge, to the meadows that bordered the lake. 
Entering the boats, before evening they found them- 
selves safe under the abbot's roof. The day of this 
escape was the 14th of August, 1508. They had been 
suffering siege, therefore, during almost two months 
in the mountain fastness. 

Cornelius Agrippa being safe could quit the scene, 
and done so without waiting to see how the difficulty 
would be solved between the Catalonian peasants and 
their master. It perplexed him much that he had no 
tidings of Landulph, his closest friend. The abbot 
advised him to go to court again, but Agrippa replied 
that he had no mind to risk being again sent upon 



24 EARLY LIFE OF AGRIPPA. 

hazardous missions. After remaining" several days in 
the abbey he set out, with an old man and his servant 
Stephen, for Barcelona. Antonius Xanthus, the com- 
panion of Agrippa, had seen much of the rough side 
of the world, was useful as a traveling companion, 
and became a member of Agrippa 's secret league. 

Not finding" Landulph at Barcelona the* traveled to 
Valentia. From there they sailed for Italy, and by 
way of the Balearic Islands and Sardinia they went to 
Naples, where, disheartened by not finding Landulph, 
they shipped for Leghorn, and then traveled to Avig- 
non. There they learned, from a traveling merchant, 
that Landulph was at Lyons. The friends now corre- 
sponded, Cornelius writing December 17th — nearly four 
months after he had left the abbey in search of his 
friend, the 24th of August. We may imagine many of 
the things these friends wrote each other. It was the 
suggestion of Agrippa that all the members of their 
league be called together that they might be absolved 
of their oaths regarding the Spanish conspiracy and 
to resume, once more, their former pleasant relations. 
He also hoped that Landulph might be able to visit 
him at Avignon and talk their secrets over, as he was 
unable to leave for Lyons, his funds being exhausted, 
until after the lapse of a little time. 



The foregoing account, which has been condensed 
from Mr. Henry Morley's excellent Life of Cornelius 
Agrippa, is continued in that part of this volume that 
starts with the heading of "Agrippa and the Rosicru- 
cians. " Agrippa 's life now becomes so interwoven 
with mysticism that we give Morley's account in full. 
The next chapters in his life are replete with the frui- 
tion of his mystic nature, its full-blown flower being 
The Occult Philosophy, or Three Books of Magic, 
the writing of which completes his early life. 



CORNELIUS AGRIPPA TO THE READER. 



I do not doubt but the title of our book of Occult 
Philosophy, or of Magic, may by the rarity of it allure 
many to read it, amongst which, some of a disordered 
judgment and some that are perverse will come to hear 
what I can say, who, by their rash ignorance, may take 
the name of Magic in the worse sense and, though 
scarce having seen the title, cry out that I teach for- 
bidden Arts, sow the seed of heresies, offend the pious, 
and scandalize excellent wits; that I am a sorcerer, 
and superstitious and devilish, who indeed am a Magi- 
cian: to whom I answer, that a Magician doth not, 
amongst learned men, signify a sorcerer or one that is 
superstitious or devilish; but a wise man, a priest, a 
prophet; and that the Sybils were Magicianesses, and 
therefore prophesied most clearly of Christ; and that 
Magicians, as wise men, by the wonderful secrets of 
the world, knew Christ, the author of the world, to be 
born, and came first of all to worship him; and that 
the name of Magic was received by philosophers, com- 
mended by divines, and is not unacceptable to the 
Gospel. I believe that the supercilious censors will 
object against the Sybils, holy Magicians and the 
Gospel itself sooner than receive the name of Magic 
into favor. So conscientious are they that neither 
Apollo nor all the Muses, nor an angel from heaven 
can redeem me from their curse. Whom therefore I 
advise that they read not our writings, nor understand 
them, nor remember them. For they are pernicious 
and full of poison; the gate of Acheron is in this 
book; it speaks stones — let them take heed that it 
beat not out their brains. But you that come without 

25 



26 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

prejudice to read it, if you have so much discretion of 
prudence as bees have in gathering* honey, read 
securely, and believe that you shall receive no little 
profit, and much pleasure; but if you shall find any 
thing's that may not please you, let them alone and 
make no use of them, for I do not approve of them, 
but declare them to you. But do not refuse other 
things, for they that look into the books of physicians 
do, together with antidotes and medicines, read also 
of poisons. I confess that Magic teacheth many 
superfluous things, and curious prodigies for ostenta- 
tion; leave them as empty things, yet be not ignorant 
of their causes. But those things which are for the 
profit of men — for the turning away of evil events, for 
the destroying of sorceries, for the curing of diseases, 
for the exterminating of phantasms, for the preserv- 
ing of life, honor, or fortune — may be done without 
offense to God or injury to religion, because they are, 
as profitable, so necessary. But I have admonished 
you that I have writ many things rather narratively 
than affirmatively; for so it seemed needful that we 
should pass over fewer things, following the judg- 
ments of Platonists and other Gentile Philosophers 
when they did suggest an argument of writing to our 
Y' purpose. Therefore if any error have been committed, 

or any thing hatli been spoken more freely, pardon my 
youth, for I wrote this being scared a young man, that 
I may excuse myself, and say, whilst I was a child I 
spake as a child, and I understood as a child, but being 
become a man, I retracted those things which I did 
being a boy, and in my book of the vanity and uncer- 
tainty of Sciences I did, for the most part, retract this 
book. But here, haply, you may blame me again, say- 
ing, " Behold, thou, being a youth, didst write, and 
now, being old, hast retracted it; what, therefore, hast 
thou set forth? " I confess, whilst I was very young, I 



ADDRESS TO THE READER. 27 

set upon the writing- of these books, but, hoping* that 
I should set them forth with corrections and enlarg-e- 
ments — and for that cause I g"ave them to Trithemius, a 
Neapolitanian Abbot, formerly a Spanhemensian, a 
man very industrious after secret thing's. But it hap- 
pened afterwards that, the work being- intercepted, 
before I finished it, it was carried about imperfect and 
impolished, and did fly abroad in Italy, in France, in 
Germany, through many men's hands; and some men, 
whether more impatiently or imprudently I know not, 
would have put it thus imperfect to the press, with 
which mischief, I, being- affected, determined to set it 
forth myself, thinking- that there mig-ht be less danger 
if these books came out of my hands with some amend- 
ments than to come forth, torn and in fragments, out 
of other men's hands. Moreover, I thought it no 
crime if I should not suffer the testimony of my youth 
to perish. Also, we have added some chapters and 
inserted many things which did seem unfit to pass by, 
which the curious reader shall be able to understand 
by the inequality of the very phrase, for we were un- 
willing to begin the work anew and to unravel all that 
we had done, but to correct it and put some flourish 
upon it. "Wherefore, I pray thee, courteous reader, 
weigh not these things according to the present time 
of setting them forth, but pardon my curious youth if 
thou find any thiug in them that may displease thee. 



When Agrippa first wrote his Occult Philosophy he 
sent it to his friend Trithemius, an Abbot of Wurtz- 
burg, with the ensuing letter. Trithemius detained the 
messenger until he had read the manuscript and then 
answered Agrippa 's letter with such sound advice as 
mystics would do well to follow for all time to come. 
Trithemius is known as a mystic author and scholar. 



28 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 



AGRIPPA TO TRITHEMIUS. 

To R. P. D. John Trithemius, an Abbot of Saint James, in 
the Suburbs of Herbipolis, Henry Cornelius Agrippa of 
Nettesheim sendeth Greeting: 

When I was of late, most reverend father, for a 
while conversant with you in your Monastery of Herb- 
ipolis, we conferred together of divers things concern- 
ing Chemistry, Magic, and Cabala, and of other things, 
which as yet lie hid in Secret Sciences and Arts; and 
then there was one great question amongst the rest — 
Why Magic, whereas it was accounted by all ancient 
philosophers to be the chiefest science, and by the 
ancient wise men and priests was always held in great 
veneration, came at last, after the beginning of the 
Catholic Church, to be always odious to and suspected 
by the holy Fathers, and then exploded by Divines, 
and condemned by sacred Canons, and, moreover, by 
all laws and ordinances forbidden? Now, the cause, 
as I conceive, is no other than this, viz. : Because, by 
a certain fatal depravation of times and men, many 
false philosophers crept in, and these, under the name 
of Magicians, heaping together, through various sorts 
of errors and factions of false religions, many cursed 
superstitions and dangerous rites, and many wicked 
sacrileges, even to the perfection of Nature; and the 
same set forth in many wicked and unlawful books, to 
which they have by stealth prefixed the most honest 
name and title of Magic; hoping, by this sacred title, 
to gain credit to their cursed and detestable fooleries. 
Hence it is that this name of Magic, formerly so hon- 
orable, is now become most odious to good and honest 
men, and accounted a capital crime if any one dare 
profess himself to be a Magician, either in doctrine or 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH TRITHEMIUS. 29 

works, unless haply some certain old doting woman, 
dwelling- in the country, would be believed to be skill- 
ful and have a divine power, that she (as saith Apu- 
leis the satirist) "can throw down the heaven, lift up 
the earth, harden fountains, wash away mountains, 
raise up ghosts, cast down the Gods, extinguish the 
stars, illuminate hell," or, as Virgil sings: 

She'll promise Uj her charms to cast great cares, 
Or ease the minds of men, and make the Stars 
For to go back, and rivers to stand still, 
And raise the nightly ghosts even at her ivill; 
To make the earth to groan, and trees to fall 
From the mountains 

Hence those things which Lucan relates of Thessala 
the Magicianess, and Homer of the omnipotency of 
Circe. Whereof many others, I confess, are as well of 
a fallacious opinion as a superstitious diligence and 
pernicious labor; for when they cannot come under a 
wicked art yet they presume they may be able to cloak 
themselves under that venerable title of Magic. 

These things being so, I wondered much and was not 
less indignant that, as yet, there had been no man who 
had either vindicated this sublime and sacred discipline 
from the charge of impiety or had delivered it purely 
and sincerely to us. What I have seen of our modern 
writers— Roger Bacon, Robert of York, an Englishman, 
Peter Apponus, Albertus [Magnus] the Teutonich, 
Arnoldas de villa Nova, Anselme the Parmensian, 
Picatrix the Spaniard, Cicclus Asculus of Florence, 
and many other writers of an obscure name— when 
they promise to treat of Magic do nothing but relate 
irrational tales and superstitions unworthy of honest 
men. Hence my spirit was moved, and, by reason 
partly of admiration, and partly of indignation, I was 
willing to play the philosopher, supposing that I 



30 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

should do no discommendable work — seeing* I have 
been always from my youth a curious and undaunted 
searcher for wonderful effects and operations full of 
mysteries — if I should recover that ancient Magic (the 
discipline of all wise men) from the errors of impiety, 
purify and adorn it with its proper lustre, and vindi- 
cate it from the injuries of calumniators; which thing, 
though I long deliberated of it in my mind, I never 
durst undertake; but after some conference betwixt 
us of these things, at Herbipolis, your transcending* 
knowledge and learning, and your ardent adhortation, 
put courage and boldness into me. There selecting" 
the opinions of philosophers of known credit, and 
purging the introduction of the wicked (who, dissem- 
blingly, and with a counterfeited knowledge, did teach 
that traditions of Magicians must be learned from 
very reprobate books of darkness or from institutions 
of wonderful operations), and, removing all darkness, 
I have at last composed three compendious books of 
Magic, and titled them Of Occult Philosophy, being" a 
title less offensive, which books I submit (you excel- 
ling in the knowledge of these things) to your cor- 
rection and censure, that if I have wrote anything 
which may tend either to the contumely of Nature, 
offending God, or injury of religion, you may condemn 
the error; but if the scandal of impiety be dissolved 
and purged, you may defend the Tradition of Truth; 
and that you would do so with these books, and Magic 
itself, that nothing may be concealed which may be 
profitable, and nothing approved of which cannot but 
do hurt; by which means these three books, having 
passed your examination with approbation, may at 
length be thought worthy to come forth with good 
success in public, and may not be afraid to come under 
the censure of posterity. 

Farewell, and pardon these my hold undertakings. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH TRITHEMIUS. 31 



TRITHEMIUS TO AGRIPPA. 

John Trithemms, Abbot of Saint James of Herbipolis, for- 
merly of Spanhemittj to his Henry Cornelius Agrippa of 
Nettesheim, health and love: 

Your work, most renowned Agrippa, entitled Of 
Occult Philosophy, which you have sent by this bearer 
to me, has been examined. With how much pleasure 
I received it no mortal tongue can express nor the pen 
of any write. I wondered at your more than vulgar 
learning- — that you, being so young, should penetrate 
into such secrets as have been hid from most learned 
men; and not only clearly and truly but also properly 
and elegantly set them forth. Whence first I give you 
thanks for your good will to me, and, if I shall ever 
be able, I shall return you thanks to the utmost of my 
power. Your work, which no learned man can suffi- 
ciently commend, I approve of. Now that you may 
proceed toward higher things, as you have begun, and 
not suffer such excellent parts of wit to be idle, I do, 
with as much earnestness as I can, advise, in treat and 
beseech you that you would exercise yourself in labor- 
ing after better things, and demonstrate the light of 
true wisdom to the ignorant, according as you yourself 
are divinely enlightened. Neither let the considera- 
tion of idle, vain fellows withdraw you from your pur- 
pose; I say of them, of whom it is said, " The wearied 
ox treads hard, " whereas no man, to the judgment of 
the wise, can be truly learned who is sworn to the 
rudiments of one only faculty. But you have been by 
God gifted with a large and sublime wit, and it is not 
that you should imitate oxen but rather birds; neither 
think it sufficient that you study about particulars, 
but bend your mind confidently to universals; for by 



32 DEDICATED TO HERM ANNUS. 

SO much the more learned any one is thought, by how 
much fewer things he is ignorant of. Moreover, your 
wit is fully apt to all things, and to be rationally 
employed, not in a few or low things, but many and 
sublimer. Yet this one rule I advise you to observe — 
that you communicate vulgar secrets to vulgar friends, 
but higher and secret to higher and secret friends only: 
Give hay to an ox, sugar to a parrot only. Understand 
my meaning, lest you be trod under the oxen's feet, as 
oftentimes it falls out. Farewell, my happy friend, 
and if it lie in my power to serve you, command me, 
and according to your pleasure it shall without delay 
be done; also, let our friendship increase daily; write 
often to me, and send me some of your labors I earn- 
estly pray you. Again farewell. 

From our Monastery of Peapolis, the 8th day of April, 
A. D. MDX. 



In January, 1531, Agrippa wrote from Mechlin to 
Hermann of Wied, Archbishop of Cologne, to whom 
he dedicated his Occult Philosophy. In this letter he 
says: "Behold! amongst such things as were closely 
laid up — the books Of Occult Philosophy, or of Magic,''' 
" a new work of most ancient and abstruse learning; " 
*'a doctrine of antiquity, by none, I dare say, hitherto 
attempted to be restored." "I shall be devotedly 
yours if these studies of my youth shall by the author- 
ity of your greatness come into knowledge," "seeing 
many things in them seemed to me, being older, as 
most profitable, so most necessary to be known. You 
have therefore the work, not only of my youth but of 
my present age," "having added many things." 

The etching inserted at this place is made from the 
title page of the only complete English edition of the 
Occult Philosophy of Magic heretofore published. 



THREE BOOKS 

OF 

Occult Philofophy, 

WRITTEN BY 

Henry Comelim Agrlppa, 

NETTESHEIM, 

Counfeller to G h a r l e ^ the Fifth, 

Emperor of Germany : 

AND 

ludge of the Prerogative Court* 



Tranflated out of the Latin into the 
Englifb Tongue^ By ^* F. 



Zomiofjy Ptinted by R, W. for Gregory Moute^ and are to 

be Told at the Sign of the three Bibles neer the 

Weft-end of 'Pmls. i6%i. 



THE FIRST OF THREE BOOKS ENTITLED 

OF 

OCCULT PHILOSOPHY OR MAGIC 

WRITTEN BY THAT FAMOUS MAN 

HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, Knight, 

AND DOCTOR OF BOTH LAWS, COUNSELLOR TO CESAR'S SACRED 
MAJESTY, AND JUDGE OF THE PREROGATIVE COURT. 

T 



BOOK ONE. — NATURAL MAGIC. 



CHAPTER I. 

Hoio Magicians Collect Virtues from the Three-fold Worlds 

is Declared in these Three Books. 

Seeing there is a Three -fold World — Elementary, 
Celestial and Intellectual — and every inferior is gov- 
erned by its superior, and receiveth the influence of 
the virtues thereof, so that the very Original and 
Chief Worker of all doth by angels, the heavens, stars, 
elements, animals, plants, metals and stones convey 
from Himself the virtues of His Omnipotency upon 
us, for whose service He made and created all these 
things: Wise men conceive it no way irrational that it 
should be possible for us to ascend by the same de- 
grees through each World, to the same very original 
World itself, the Maker of all things and First Cause, 

33 



34 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

from whence all things are and proceed; and also to 
enjoy not only these virtues, which are already in the 
more excellent kind of things, but also besides these, 
to draw new virtues from above. Hence it is that 
they seek after the virtues of the Elementary World, 
through the help of physic, and natural philosophy in 
the various mixtions of natural things; then of the 
Celestial World in the rays, and influences thereof, 
according to the rules of Astrologers, and the doc- 
trines of mathematicians, joining the Celestial virtues 
to the former: Moreover, they ratify and confirm all 
these with the powers of divers Intelligences, through 
\ the sacred ceremonies of religions. The order and 
process of all these I shall endeavor to deliver in 
these three books : Whereof the first contains Natural 
Magic, the second Celestial, and the third Ceremonial. 
But I know not whether it be an unpardonable pre- 
sumption in me, that I, a man of so little judgment 
and learning, should in my very youth so confidently 
set upon a business so difficult, so hard and intricate 
as this is. Wherefore, whatsoever things have here 
already, and shall afterward be said by me, I would 
not have anyone assent to them, nor shall I myself, 
any further than they shall be approved of by the 
universal church and the congregation of the faithful. 



CHAPTER II. 

What Magic is, What are the Parts thereof, and How the 
Professors thereof must be Qualified. 

Magic is a faculty of wonderful virtue, full of most 
high mysteries, containing the most profound con- 
templation of most secret things, together with the 
nature, power, quality, substance and virtues thereof, 
as also the knowledge of whole Nature, and it doth 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 35 

instruct us concerning the differing and agreement of 
things amongst themselves, whence it produceth its 
wonderful effects, by uniting the virtues of things 
through the application of them one to the other, and 
to their inferior suitable subjects, joining and knitting 
them together thoroughly by the powers and virtues 
of the superior Bodies. This is the most perfect and 
chief Science, that sacred and sublimer kind of Phi- 
losophy, and lastly the most absolute perfection of all 
most excellent Philosophy. For seeing that all regu- 
lative Philosophy is divided into Natural, Mathemat- 
ical and Theological: (Natural Philosophy teacheth 
the nature of those things which are in the world, 
searching and inquiring into their causes, effects, times, 
places, fashions, events, their whole and parts, also 

The Number and the Nature of those things, 

Called Elements — ivhat Fire, Earth, Aire forth brings; 

From ivhence the Heavens their beginnings had; 

Whence Tide, ivhence Bainboiu, in gay colors clad. 

What makes the Clouds that gathered are, and black, 

To send forth Lightnings, and a ThundWing crack; 

What doth the Nightly Flames, and Comets make; 

WJiat makes the Earth to swell, and then to quake; 

WJiat is the Seed of Metals, and of Gold; 

Wliat Virtues, Wealth, doth Nature^s Coffer hold. 

All these things doth Natural Philosophy, the 
viewer of Nature, contain, teaching us, according to 
Virgil's Muse: 

Whence all things floiv — 
Whence Mankind, Beast; ivhence Fire, ivhence Rain and Snow; 
Wlience Earthquakes are; why the whole Ocean beats 
Over his banks and then again retreats; 
Whence strength of Herbs, whence Courage, rage of Brutes 
All kinds of Stone, of creeping Things, and Fruits, 



36 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

But Mathematical Philosophy teacheth us to know 
the quantity of natural bodies, as extended into three 
dimensions, as also to conceive of the motion and 
course of celestial bodies. 

As in great haste, 
What makes the golden Stars to march so fast? 
What makes the Moon sometimes to mask her face. 
The Sun also, as if in some disgrace? 

And, as Virgil sings: 

How tW Sun doth rule with twelve Zodiac Signs, 
The Orb thafs measured round about with Lines — 
It doth the Heavens^ Starry Way make known, 
And strange Eclipses of the Sun and Moon; 
Arcturns also, and the Stars of Bain, 
The Seven Stars likewise, and Charles, his wain; 
Why Winter Suns make towards the West so fast; 
What makes the Nights so long ere they be past? 

All which are understood by Mathematical Philos- 
ophy. 

Hence, by the Heavens ive may foreknow 
The Seasons all; times for to reap and soiv. 
And when ^tisfit to launch into the deep. 
And when to war, and when in peace to sleep; 
And when to dig up trees, and them again 
To set, that they may bring forth amain. 

Now Theological Philosophy, or Divinity, teacheth 
what God is, what the Mind, what an Intelligence, what 
an Angel, what a Devil, what the Soul, what Religion, 
what sacred Institutions, Rites, Temples, Observa- 
tions, and sacred Mysteries are. It instructs us also 
concerning Faith, Miracles, the virtues of Words and 
Figures, the secret operations and mysteries of Seals; 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. . 37 

and, as Apuleius saith, it teacheth us rightly to under- 
stand and to be skilled in the Ceremonial Laws, the 
equity of Holy things and rule of Religions. But to 
recollect myself.) 

These three principal faculties* Magic comprehends, 
unites and actuates; deservedly, therefore, was it by 
the Ancients esteemed as the highest and most sacred 
Philosophy. It was, as we find, brought to light by 
most sage authors and most famous writers; f amongst 
which principally Zamolxis and Zoroaster were so 
famous that many believed they were the inventors of 
this Science. Their track Abbaris the Hyperborean, 
Charmondas, Damigeron, Eudoxus, Hermippus fol- 
lowed. There were also other eminent, choice men, as 
Mercurius Tresmegistus, Porphyrins, lamblicus, Ploti- 
nus, Proclus, Dardanus, Orpheus the Thracian, Gog the 
Grecian, Germa the Babylonian, Apollonius of Tyana. 
Osthanes also wrote excellently of this Art, whose 
books being as it were lost, Democritus. of Abdera 
recovered, and set them forth with his own Commen- 
taries. Besides, Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus, 
Plato, and many other renowned Philosophers trav- 
elled far by sea to learn this Art; and being returned, 
published it with wonderful devoutness, esteeming of 
it as a great secret. Also it is well known that 
Pythagoras and Plato went to the Prophets of Mem- 
phis to learn it, and travelled through almost all 
Syria, Egypt, Judea, and the Schools of the Caldeans 
that they might not be ignorant of the most sacred 
Memorials and Records of Magic, as also that they 
might be furnished with Divine things. Whosoever, 



* Natural, Mathematical and Theological (Spiritual) Philosophy. 

+ The author here gives a valuable list of mystic writers and teachers up 
to A. D. 1509. At this date Agrippa was a " teacher of theology " at Dole, 
France, where he "attracted great attention by his lectures; but having 
by his bitter satires on the monks drawn upon himself the hatred of that 
body, he was accused of heresy, and obliged to leave," going to Cologne. 



38 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

therefore, is desirous to study in this Faculty, if he be 
not skilled in Natural Philosophy, wherein are dis- 
covered the qualities of things, and in which are found 
the occult properties of every Being, and if he be not 
skillful in the Mathematics, and in the Aspects, and 
Figures of the Stars, upon which depends the sublime 
virtue and property of every thing; and if he be not 
learned in Theology, wherein are manifested those 
immaterial substances, which dispense and minister 
all things, he cannot be possibly able to understand 
the rationality of Magic. For there is no work that is 
done by mere Magic, nor any work that is merely Mag- 
ical, that doth not comprehend these three Faculties. 



CHAPTER III. 

0/ the Four Elements^ their Qualities, and Mutual Mix- 
tions. 

There are four Elements, and original grounds of all 
corporeal things — Fire, Earth, Water, Air — of which 
all elemented inferior bodies are compounded; not by 
way of heaping them up together, but by transmuta- 
tion and union; and when they are destroyed they are 
resolved into Elements. For there is none of the 
sensible Elements that is pure, but they are more or 
less mixed, and apt to be changed one into the other: 
Even as Earth becoming dirty, and being dissolved, 
becomes Water, and the same being made thick and 
hard, becometh Earth again; but being evaporated 
through heat, passeth into Air, and that being kindled, 
passeth into Fire; and this being extinguished, returns 
back again into Air; but being cooled again after its 
burning, becomes Earth, or Stone, or Sulphur, and this 
is manifested by Lightning. Plato also was of that 
opinion, that Earth was wholly changeable, and that 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 39 

the rest of the Elements are changed, as into this, so 
into one another successively. But it is the opinion of 
the subtler sort of Philosophers, that Earth is not 
chang-ed, but relented and mixed with other Elements, 
which do dissolve it, and that it returns back into 
itself again.* Now, every one of the Elements hath 
two specifical qualities — the former whereof it retains 
as proper to itself; in the other, as a mean, it agrees 
with that which comes next after it. For Fire is hot 
and dry, the Earth dry and cold, the Water cold and 
moist, the Air moist and hot. f And so after this man- 
ner the Elements, according to two contrary qualities, 
are contrary one to the other, as Fire to Water, and 
Earth to Air. Moreover, the Elements are upon 
another account opposite one to the other: For some 
are heavy, as Earth and Water, and others are light, 
as Air and Fire. Wherefore the Stoics called the 
former passives, but the latter actives. And yet once 
again, Plato distinguisheth them after another man- 
ner, and assigns to every one of them three qualities, 
viz., to the Fire brightness, thinness and motion, but 
to the Earth darkness, thickness and quietness. And 
according to these qualities the Elements of Fire and 
Earth are contrary. But the other Elements borrow 
their qualities from these, so that the Air receives two 
qualities of the Fire, thinness and motion, and one of 
the Earth, viz., darkness. In like manner Water 



* Agrippa teaches here and in the chapter following that matter, or sut)- 
stance, however much its elementary forms may change, is eternaii, thus 
denying the dogma that God " created '" all things " out of nothing." 

t Tabular ly stated: proper mean 

QUALITY. QUALITY. 

Fire is — hot and dry. 

Earth is., dry and cold. 

Water is . . cold and moist. 

Air is moist and hot. 

As to these qualities— Fire is contrary to Water, and Earth to Air. This 
exposition of the "qualities" astrologers should note, for while the books 
give the same matter the " proper " and " mean " qualities are not given. 



40 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

receives two qualities of the Earth, darkness and 
thickness, and one of Fire, viz., motion. But Fire is 
twice more thin than Air, thrice more movable, and 
four times more bright; and the Air is twice more 
bright, thrice more thin, and four times more movable 
than Water. Wherefore Water is twice more bright 
than Earth, thrice more thin, and four times more 
movable.* As therefore the Fire is to the Air, so Air 
is to the Water, and Water to the Earth; and again, as 
the Earth is to the Water, so is the Water to the Air, 
and the Air to the Fire. And this is the root and 
foundation of all bodies, natures, virtues and wonder- 
ful works; and he which shall know these qualities of 
the Elements, and their mixtions, shall easily bring to 
pass such things that are wonderful, and astonishing, 
and shall be perfect in Magic. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Of a Three-fold Consideration of the Elements. 

There are, then, as we have said, four Elements, 
without the perfect knowledge whereof we can effect 
nothing in Magic. Now each of them is three-fold, 
that so the number of four may make up the number 
of twelve; and by passing by the number of seven 
into the number of ten, there may be a progress to the 
supreme Unity, upon which all virtue and wonderful 
operation depends. Of the first Order are the pure 
Elements, which are neither compounded nor changed, 
nor admit of mixtion, but are incorruptible, and not of 
which, but through which the virtues of all natural 
things are brought forth into act. No man is able to 
declare their virtues, because they can do all things 
upon all things. He which is ignorant of these, shall 



*Tlie unity of ttie contrasts between the four elements is here shown. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. - 41 

never be able to bring to pass any wonderful matter. 
Of the second Order are Elements that are com- 
pounded, changeable and impure, yet such as may by 
art be reduced to their pure simplicity, whose virtue, 
when they are thus reduced to their simplicity, doth 
above all things perfect all occult and common opera- 
tions of Nature; and these are the foundation of the 
whole Natural Magic. Of the third Order are those 
Elements, which originally and of themselves are not 
Elements, but are twice compounded, various and 
changeable one into the other.* They are the infalli- 
ble Medium, and therefore are called the middle nature, 
or Soul of the middle nature: Very few there are that 
understand the deep mysteries thereof. In them is, 
by means of certain numbers, degrees and orders, the 
perfection of every effect in anything soever, whether 
Natural, Celestial or Supercelestial; they are full of 
wonders and mysteries, and are operative, as in Magic 
Natural, so in Divine: For from these, through them, 
proceed the bindings, loosings and transmutations of 
all things, the knowing and foretelling of all things 
to come, also the driving forth of evil and the gaining 
of good spirits. Let no man, therefore, without these 
three sorts of Elements, and the knowledge thereof, 
be confident that he is able to work any thing in the 
occult Sciences of Magic and Nature. But whosoever 
shall know how to reduce those of one Order into 
those of another, impure into pure, compounded into 
simple, and shall know how to understand distinctly 
the nature, virtue and power of them in number, 
degrees and order, without dividing the substance, he 
shall easily attain to the knowledge and perfect oper- 
ation of all Natural things and Celestial secrets. 



*Such as heat, light and electricity; astral magnetism, attraction and 
vibration; form, number and color; occult principles of natural law; the 
immutable attributes of time, space and substance. 



42 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

CHAPTER V. 

Of the Wonderful Natures of Fire and Earth. 

There are two things, saith Hermes, viz., Fire and 
Earth, which are sufficient for the operation of all 
wonderful things: the former is active, the latter pas- 
sive. Fire, as saith Dionysius, in all things, and 
through all things, comes and goes away bright; it is 
in all things bright, and at the same time occult and 
unknown. When it is by itself (no other matter com- 
ing to it, in which it should manifest its proper action) 
it is boundless and invisible, of itself sufficient for 
every action that is proper to it, movable, yielding 
itself after a manner to all things that come next to 
it, renewing, guarding Nature, enlightening, not com- 
prehended by lights that are veiled over, clear, parted, 
leaping back, bending upwards, quick in motion, high, 
always raising motions, comprehending another, not 
comprehended itself, not standing in need of another, 
secretly increasing of itself, and manifesting its great- 
ness to things that receive it; Active, Powerful, Invis- 
ibly present in all things at once; it will not be affronted 
or opposed, but as it were in a way of revenge, it will 
reduce, on a sudden, things into obedience to itself; 
incomprehensible, impalpable, not lessened, most rich 
in all dispensations of itself. Fire, as saith Pliny, is 
the boundless and mischievous part of the nature of 
things, it being a question whether it destroys or pro- 
duceth most things. Fire itself is one, and penetrates 
through all things, as say the Pythagorians, also 
spread abroad in the Heavens, and shining: but in the 
infernal place straitened, dark and tormenting; in 
the mid ivay it partakes of both. Fire, therefore, in 
itself is one, but in that which receives it, manifold; 
and in differing subjects it is distributed in a different 
manner, as Cleanthes witnesseth in Cicero. That fire. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 43 

then, which we use is fetched out of other things. It 
is in stones, and is fetched out by the stroke of the 
steel; it is in Earth, and makes that, after digg^ing up, 
to smoke; it is in Water, and heats springs and wells; 
it is in the depth of the Sea, and makes that, being 
tossed with w^inds, warm; it is in the Air, and makes 
it (as we oftentimes see) to burn. And all animals and 
living things whatsoever, as also all vegetables, are 
preserved by heat; and everything that lives, lives by 
reason of the inclosed heat. The properties of the 
Fire that is above, are heat, making all things fruitful, 
and light, giving life to all things. The properties of 
the infernal Fire are a parching heat, consuming all 
things, and darkness, making all things barren. The 
Celestial and bright Fire drives away spirits of dark- 
ness; also this, our Fire made with wood, drives away 
the same, in as much as it hath an analogy with and 
is the veliiculum of that Superior light; as also of him 
who saith, "I am the Light of the World," which is 
true Fire, the Father of Lights, from whom every 
good thing, that is given, comes; sending forth the 
light of His Fire, and communicating it first to the 
Sun and the rest of the Celestial bodies, and by these, 
as by mediating instruments, conveying that light into 
our Fire. As, therefore, the spirits of darkness are 
stronger in the dark, so good spirits, which are Angels 
of Light, are augmented, not only by that light, which 
is Divine, of the Sun, and Celestial, but also by the 
light of our common Fire. Hence it was that the first 
and most wise institutors of religions and ceremonies 
ordained that prayers, singings and all manner of 
divine worships whatsoever should not be performed 
without lighted candles or torches (hence, also, was 
that significant saying of Pythagoras, ''Do not speak 
of God without a Light "), and they commanded that 
for the driving away of wicked spirits, Lights and 



44 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Fires should be kindled by the corpses of the dead, 
and that they should not be removed until the expia- 
tions were after a holy manner performed and they 
buried. And the great Jehovah himself in the old law 
commanded that all his sacrifices should be offered 
with Fire, and that Fire should always be burning 
upon the altar, which custom the priests of the altar 
did always observe and keep amongst the Eomans. 

Now the basis and foundation of all the Elements is 
the Earth, for that is the object, subject, and recepta- 
cle of all Celestial rays and influences; in it are con- 
tained the seeds and seminal virtues of all things; 
and therefore it is said to be Animal, Vegetable and 
Mineral. It being made fruitful by the other Elements 
and the Heavens, it brings forth all things of itself. 
It receives the abundance of all things and is, as it 
were, the first fountain from whence all things spring. 
It is the center, foundation and mother of all things. 
Take as much of it as you please, separated, washed, 
depurated, subtilized, if you let it lie in the open air 
a little while, (it will, being full and abounding with 
heavenly virtues, of itself bring forth plants, worms 
and other living things, also stones, and bright sparks 
of metals. In it are great secrets, if at any time it 
shall be purified by the help of Fire, and reduced unto 
its simplicity by a convenient washing. It is the first 
matter of our creation, and the truest medicine that 
can restore and preserve us. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Of the Wonderful Natures of Water, Air and Winds. 

The other two Elements, viz.. Water and Air, are 
not less efficacious than the former; neither is Nature 
wanting to work wonderful things in them. There is 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 45 

SO great a necessity of Water, that without it no liv- 
ing- thing- can live. No herb nor plant whatsoever, 
without the moistening of Water can branch forth. 
In it is the seminary virtue of all things, especially of 
animals. The seeds also of trees and plants, althoug-h 
they are earthy, must notwithstanding- of necessity be 
rotted in Water before they can be fruitful; whether 
they be imbibed with the moisture of the Earth, or 
with dew or rain or any other Water that is on pur- 
pose put to them. For Moses writes, that only Earth 
and Water bring- forth a living soul. But he ascribes 
a twofold production of things to Water, viz,, of 
things swimming in the Waters, and of things flying 
in the Air above the Earth. And that those produc- 
tions that are made in and upon the Earth are partly 
attributed to the very Water, the same Scripture tes- 
tifies, where it saith that the plants and the herbs did 
not grow, because God had not caused it to rain upon 
the Earth. Such is the efficacy of this Element of 
Water that spiritual regeneration cannot be done 
without it, as Christ himself testified to Nicodemus. 
Very great, also, is the virtue of it in the religious 
worship of God, in expiations and purifications; yea, 
the necessity of it is no less than that of Fire. Infi- 
nite are the benefits, and divers are the uses thereof, 
as being that by virtue of which all things subsist, 
are generated, nourished and increased. Thence it 
was that Thales, of Miletus, and Hesiod concluded 
that Water was the beginning of all things, and said 
it was the first of all the Elements, and the most 
potent, and that because it hath the mastery over all 
the rest. For, as Pliny saith. Waters swallow up the 
Earth, extinguish flames, ascend on high, and by the 
stretching forth of the clouds, challenge the Heaven 
for their own; the same falling become the cause of all 
things that grow in the Earth. Very many are the 



46 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

wonders that are done by Waters, according to the 
writing's of Pliny, Solinus, and many other historians 
of the wonderful virtue whereof. Ovid also makes 
mention in these verses: 

Horned Hammon's Waters at high noon 
Are cold; hot at Sun-rise and setting Sun. 
Wood, put in hub'' ling Athemas is Fir^d, 
The Moon then farthest from the Sun retired; 
Ciconian streams congeal his guts to Stone 
That thereof drinks, and what therein is thrown, 
Crathis and Sybaris (from the Mountains roVd) 
Color the hair like Amber or pure Gold. 
Some fountains, of a more prodigious kinde, 
Not only change the body but the minde. 
Who hath not heard of obscene Salmacis? 
Of tN Ethiopian lake? for, luho of this 
But only taste, their tvits no longer keep, 
Or forthiDith fall into a deadly sleep. 
Who at Clitorius fountain thirst remove 
Loath Wine and, abstinent, meer Water love. 
With streams opposed to these Lincestus floives — 
They reel, as drunk, ivho drink too much of those. 
A Lake in fair Arcadia stands, of old 
CalVd Pheneus, suspected as tivofold — 
Fear and forbear to drink thereof by night — 
By night unwholesome, wholesome by day -light. 

Josephus also makes relation of the wonderful 
nature of a certain river betwixt Arcea and Raphanea, 
cities of Syria, which runs with a full channel all the 
Sabbath day and then on a sudden ceaseth, as if the 
springs were stopped, and all the six days you may 
pass over it dry shod; but again, on the seventh day 
(no man knowing the reason of it), the Waters return 
again in abundance as before. Wherefore the inhab- 
itants thereabout called it the Sabbath-day river, 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 47 

because of the Seventh day, which was holy to the 
Jews. The Gospel also testifies to a sheep-pool, into 
which whosoever stepped first, after the Water was 
troubled by the Angel, was made whole of whatso- 
ever disease he had. The same virtue and efficacy we 
read was in a spring of the Jonian Nymphs, which 
was in the territories belonging to the town of Elis, 
at a village called Heraclea, near the river Citheron: 
which whosoever stepped into, being diseased, came 
forth whole and cured of all his diseases. Pausanias 
also reports that in Lyceus, a mountain of Arcadia, 
there was a spring called Agria, to which, as often as 
the dryness of the region threatened the destruction 
of fruits, Jupiter's priest of Lyceus went, and after 
the offering of sacrifices, devoutly praying to the 
Waters of the Spring, holding a Bough of an Oak in 
his hand, put it down to the bottom of the hallowed 
Spring. Then the Waters, being troubled, a Vapor 
ascending from thence into the Air was blown into 
clouds with which, being joined together, the whole 
Heaven was overspread; v/hich being a little after 
dissolved into rain, watered all the country most 
wholesomely. Moreover, Ruffus, a physician of Eph- 
esus, besides many other authors, wrote strange things 
concerning the wonders of Waters, which, for ought I 
know, are found in no other author. 

It remains that I speak of the Air. This is a vital 
spirit, passing through all beings, giving life and sub- 
sistence to all things, binding, moving and filling all 
things. Hence it is that the Hebrew doctors reckon 
it not amongst the Elements, but count it as a Medium 
or glue, joining things together, and as the resounding 
spirit of the World's instrument. It immediately 
receives into itself the influences of all celestial 
bodies and then communicates them to the other Ele- 
ments, as also to all mixed bodies. Also it receives 



48 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

into itself, as it were a divine looking-glass, the spe- 
cies of all things, as well natural as artificial, as also 
of all manner of speeches, and retains them; and car- 
rying them with it, and entering into the bodies of 
men, and other animals, through their pores, makes 
an impression upon them, as well when they sleep as 
when they be awake, and affords matter for divers 
strange Dreams and Divinations. Hence they say it is, 
that a man passing by a place where a man was slain, 
or the carcass newly hid, is moved with fear and 
dread; because the Air in that place, being full of the 
dreadful species of manslaughter, doth, being breathed 
in, move and trouble the spirit of the man with the 
like species, whence it is that he comes to be afraid. 
For everything that makes a sudden impression, aston- 
isheth nature. Whence it is, that many philosophers 
were of opinion that Air is the cause of dreams, and 
of many other impressions of the mind, through the 
prolonging of Images, or similitudes, or species (which 
are fallen from things and speeches, multiplied in the 
very Air) until they come to the senses, and then to 
the phantasy, and soul of him that receives them, 
which being freed from cares and no way hindered, 
expecting to meet such kind of species, is informed by 
them. For the species of things, although of their 
own proper nature they are carried to the senses of 
men, and other animals in general, may notwithstand- 
ing get some impression from the Heaven whilst they 
be in the Air, by reason of which, together with the 
aptness and disposition of him that receives them, 
they may be carried to the sense of one rather than of 
another. And hence it is possible naturally, and far 
from all manner of superstition, no other spirit com- 
ing between, that a man should be able in a very little 
time to signify his mind unto another man abiding at 
a very long and unknown distance from him ; although 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 49 

he cannot precisely give an estimate of the time when 
it is, yet of necessity it must be within twenty-four 
hours; and I myself know how to do it, and have often 
done it.* The same also in time past did the Abbot 
Tritenius both know and do. Also, when certain 
appearances, not only spiritual but also natural, do 
flow forth from things (that is to say, by a certain 
kind of flowing-s forth of bodies from bodies, f and do 
gather strength in the Air), they offer and shoiv them- 
selves to us as well through light as motion, as well 
to the sight as to other senses, and sometimes work 



♦This is conclusive evidence tliat telepathy or mind transference lias 
been known and practiced for hundreds of years. Tlie metliod of mind 
transference is frequently carried out unawares, and may be performed 
in various ways. When two persons are in natural sympathy with each 
other it is a comparatively easy matter if they are of a nervous or sensi- 
tive temperament. Writing a letter, and then burning it, the while fixing 
the mind firmly upon the person addressed and willing that the letter be 
answered is one method. Mentally addressing a crystal vessel of water 
with the palms of the hands extended over the glass, the while picturing 
the absent person clearly in the mind's eye, and then pouring the water 
into a stream or the ocean, will carry a message to one at sea. Burying a 
stone, slate or piece of metal in the earth, at the time of the new moon, on 
which a message is inscribed, will influence those who labor in the earth or 
work in like metals, especially if Saturn or Uranus be in strong aspect to 
the earth through the sun. The air method is the best of all, and was that 
undoubtedly used by Agrippa as he makes mention of the matter in this 
place : Go out into the open air, or to an open window, and face the quar- 
ter wherein the person is; or, if the quarter be unknown, face in turn each 
of the four cardinal points, and audibly call the name of the person with 
whom communication is desired, the same as though the party was in an 
adjoining room, three times, earnestly, and each time with added force. 
While doing this extend the arms and hands, as in appeal, the while clearly 
picturing the person's features in the mind, and will, determinedly and per- 
sistently, that your call and message be heard. Then speak, as though the 
person stood before you, shortly, firmly and decidedly. Having done this 
listen for a reply, which will come as though one were speaking to the mind 
without the aid of the ear. Do not imagine a reply as that will not help 
but rather hinder communication. Of course, in most cases, it is necessary 
that there should exist a sympathetic bond or tie of some kind between the 
parties. This art may be developed by practice, by lovers especially, to an 
astonishing degree. It will be found very helpful to set certain times for 
such development. With practice, after mind communication has been 
accomplished, spoken messages and other noted conditions may be dis- 
pensed with, and it will be merely necessary to will and think— projecting 
the message astrally. 

t The astral body from the material body. 



50 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

wonderful thing's upon us, as Plotinus proves and 
teacheth. And we see how by the south wind the Air 
is condensed into thin clouds, in which, as in a looking- 
glass, are reflected representations at a great distance 
of castles, mountains, horses and men and other things 
which, when the clouds are gone, presently vanish. 
And Aristotle, in his Meteors, shows that a rainbow is 
conceived in a cloud of the Air, as in a looking-glass. 
And Albertus saith that the effigies of bodies may, by 
the strength of nature, in a moist Air be easily repre- 
sented, in the same manner as the representations of 
things are in things. And Aristotle tells of a man to 
whom it happened, by reason of the weakness of his 
sight, that the Air that was near to him became, as it 
were, a looking-glass to him, and the optic beam did 
reflect back upon himself, and could not penetrate the 
Air, so that whithersoever he went he thought he saw 
his own image, with his face towards him, go before 
him. In like manner, by the artificialness of some 
certain looking-glasses, may be produced at a distance 
in the Air, beside the looking-glasses, what images we 
please; which when ignorant men see, they think they 
see the appearances of spirits, or souls; when, indeed, 
they are nothing else but semblances kin to them- 
selves, and without life. And it is well known, if in a 
dark place where there is no light but by the coming 
in of a beam of the sun somewhere through a little 
hole, a white paper or plain looking-glass be set up 
against that light, that there may be seen upon them 
whatsoever things are done without, being shined 
upon by the sun. And there is another sleight or trick 
yet more wonderful: If any one shall take images 
artificially painted, or written letters, and in a clear 
night set them against the beams of the full moon, 
whose resemblances, being multiplied in the Air, and 
caught upward, and reflected back together with the 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 51 

beams of the moon, any other man that is privy to the 
thing, at a long- distance sees, reads and knows them 
in the very compass and circle of the moon; which Art 
of declaring secrets is indeed very profitable for towns 
and cities that are besieged, being a thing which 
Pythagoras long since did often do, and which is not 
unknown to some in these days; I will not except my- 
self. And all these and many more, and greater than 
these, are grounded in the very nature of the Air, and 
have their reasons and causes declared in mathematics 
and optics. And as these resemblances are reflected 
back to the sight, so also sometimes to the hearing, as 
is manifest in the Echo. But there are more secret 
arts than these, and such whereby any one may at 
a very remote distance hear and understand what 
another speaks or whispers softly. 

There are also, from the airy element. Winds; for 
they are nothing else but Air moved and stirred up. 
Of these there are four that are principal, blowing 
from the four corners of the Heaven, viz. : Notus from 
the South, Boreas from the North, Zephyrus from the 
West, Eurus from the East,* which Pontanus compre- 
hending in these verses, saith: 

Cold Boreas from the top of Hympus Mows, 
And from the bottom cloudy Notus flows. 
From setting Phoebus fruitful ZepWrus flies, 
And barren Eurus from the Sun^s up-rise. 

* Marcus Manilius, of Rome, time of Augustus, and author of the poem 
entitled '' Astronomica," thus writes of the Cardinal Winds (Five Books of 
Manilius, London, 1697) : 

East. West, and North, and South, on either side, 

These Quarters lie oppos'd, the World divide : 

As many Winds from these four Quarters file, 

And fight and rattle, thro' the empty Sky: 

Rough Boreas from the North, bears Frost and Snows, 

And from the East, the gentle Eurus blows. 

Wet Auster from the torrid South is thrown, 

And pleasing Zephj-rus cools the setting Sun. 



52 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Notus is the Southern Wind, cloudy, moist, warm and 
sickly, which Hieronimus calls the butler of the rains. 
Ovid describes it thus: 

Out flies South-wind, tvith dropping wings, wJio shroivds 
His fearful aspect in the pitchie clouds, 
His white Haire streams, his Beard big -sworn tvith showers; 
Mists hinde his Broivs, rain from his Bosome powres. 

But Boreas is contrary to Notus, and is the Northern 
Wind, fierce and roaring", and discussing" clouds; makes 
the Air serene, and binds the Water with frost. Him 
doth Ovid thus bring in speaking of himself: 

Force me befits: with this thick clouds I drive; 
Toss the blew Billows, knotty Okes up-rive; 
Congeal soft snow, and beat the Earth ivith haile: 
When I my brethren in the Aire assaile, 
(For that's our Field) we meet with such a shock, 
That thundring Skies with our encounters rock 
And cloud-struck lightning flashes from on high. 
When through the Crannies of the Earth I flie 
And force her in her hollow Caves; I make 
The Ghosts to tremble, and the ground to quake. 

And Zephyrus, which is the Western Wind, is most 
soft, blowing from the West with a pleasant gale; it 
is cold and moist, removing the effects of Winter, 
bringing forth branches and flowers. To this Eurus is 
contrary, which is the Eastern Wind, and is called 
Apeliotes; it is waterish, cloudy and ravenous. Of 
these two Ovid sings thus: 

To Persis and Sabea, Eurus flies; 
Whose gums perfume the blushing Morne^s up-rise: 
Next to the Evening, and the Coast that glows 
With setting Phoebus, floiv'ry Zephyrus blows; 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 53 

In Scytliia Jiorrid Boreas Jiolds Jiis rain, 
Beneath Boites, and the frozen Wain; 
The land to this opposed doth Auster steep 
With fruitful showres and clouds which ever weep. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Of the Kinds of Compounds, ivhat Relation they stand in to 
the Elements, and tvhat Relation there is betwixt the Ele- 
ments themselves and the Soul, Senses and Dispositions 
of Men. 

Next after the four simple Elements follow the four 
kinds of perfect Bodies compounded of them, and they 
are Stones, Metals, Plants and Animals: and although 
unto the generation of each of these all the Elements 
meet together in the composition, yet every one of 
them follows, and resembles one of the Elements, 
which is most predominant. For all Stones are earthy 
for they are naturally heavy and descend, and so hard- 
ened with dryness that they cannot be melted. But 
Metals are waterish and may be melted, which natural- 
ists confess, and chemists find to be true, viz., that 
they are generated of a viscous Water, or waterish 
argent vive. Plants have such an affinity with the 
Air, that unless they be abroad in the open air, they 
do neither bud nor increase. So also all Animals 

Have in their Natures a most fiery force, 
And also spring from a Celestial source. 

And Fire is so natural to them, that that being extin- 
guished they presently die. And, again, every one of 
those kinds is distinguished within itself by reason of 
degrees of the Elements. For amongst the Stones 
they especially are called earthy that are dark and 



54 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

more heavy; and those waterish which are transpar- 
ent and are compacted of water, as crystal, beryl and 
pearls in the shells of fishes; and they are called airy 
which swim upon the water, and are spongeous, as the 
stones of a sponge, the pumice stone and the stone 
sophus;* and they are called fiery out of which fire is 
extracted, or which are produced of fire, as thunder- 
bolts, fire-stones and the stone asbestos. Also amongst 
Metals, lead and silver are earthy; quicksilver is wa- 
terish; copper and tin are airy; and gold and iron are 
fiery. In Plants also, the roots resemble the earth by 
reason of their thickness; and the leaves water, 
because of their juice; flowers the air, because of 
their subtility, and the seeds the fire, by reason of 
their multiplying spirit. Besides, they are called 
some hot, some cold, some moist, some dry, borrowing 
their names from the qualities of the Elements. 
Amongst Animals also, some are in comparison of 
others earthy, and dwell in the bowels of the earth, 
as worms and moles, and many other small creeping 
vermin; others are watery, as fishes; others airy, 
which cannot live out of the air; f others also are fiery, 
living in the fire, as salamanders, and crickets, such 
as are of a fiery heat, as pigeons, ostriches, lions, and 
such as the wise man calls beasts breathing fire. 
Besides, in animals the bones resemble the earth, flesh 
the air, the vital spirit the fire, and the humors the 
water. And these humors also partake of the Ele- 
ments, for yellow choler is instead of fire, blood instead 
of air, phlegm instead of water, and black choler, or 
melancholy, instead of earth. And lastly, in the Soul 
itself, according to Austin, the understanding resem- 
bles fire, reason the air, imagination the water, and 
the senses the earth. And these senses also are 



♦ Probably meerschaum (sea-froth), or sepiolite, one of the bisilicates. 
t Birds in general are undoubtedly here meant. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC, 55 

divided amongst themselves b}^ reason of the Ele- 
ments, for the sig"ht is fiery, neither can it perceive 
without fire and light; the hearing" is airy, for a sound 
is made by the striking of the air; the smell and taste 
resemble the water, without the moisture of which 
there is neither smell nor taste; and lastly, the feel- 
ing is wholly earthy, and taketh gross bodies for its 
object. The actions, also, and the operations of man 
are governed by the Elements. The earth signifies a 
slow and firm motion; the water signifies fearfulness 
and sluggishness, and remissness in working; air sig- 
nifies cheerfulness and an amiable disposition; but fire 
a fierce, quick and angry disposition. The Elements, 
therefore, are the first of all things, and all things 
are of and according to them, and they are in all 
things, and diffuse their virtues through all things. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

How the Elements are in the Heavens, in Stars , in Devils, 
in Angels, and lastly in God himself. 

It is the unanimous consent of all Platonists, that 
as in the original and exemplary World, all things are 
in all; so also in this corporeal world, all things are 
jn^alU so also the Elements are not only in these infe- 
rior bodies, but also in the Heavens, in Stars, in Dev- 
ils, in Angels, and lastly in God, the maker and origi- 
nal example of all things. Now in these inferior 
bodies the Elements are accompanied with much gross 
matter; but in the Heavens the Elements are with 
their natures and virtues, viz., after a celestial and 
more excellent manner than in sublunary things. For 
the firmness of the Celestial Earth is there without 
the grossness of water; and the agility of the Air 
without running over its bounds; the heat of Fire 



56 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

without burning, only shining" and giving" life to all 
things by its heat. Amongst the Stars, also, some 
are fiery, as Mars and Sol; airy, as Jupiter and Venus; 
watery, as Saturn and Mercury; and earthy, such as 
inhabit the eighth Or&* and the Moon (which, notwith- 
standing, by many is accounted watery), seeing, as if 
it were Earth, it attracts to itself the celestial waters, 
with which, being imbibed, it doth, by reason of its 
nearness to us, pour out and communicate to us. 
There are, also, amongst the Signs, f some fiery, some 
earthy, some airy, some watery; the Elements rule 
them also in the Heavens, distributing to them these 
four threefold considerations of every Element, viz., 
the beginning, middle and end : So Aries possesseth 
the beginning of fire, Leo the progress and increase, 
and Sagittarius the end. Taurus the beginning of the 
earth, Virgo the progress, Capricorn the end. Gemini 
the beginning of the air. Libra the progress, Aquarius 
the end. Cancer the beginning of water, Scorpius the 
middle, and Pisces the end. Of the mixtions, there- 
fore, of these Planets and Signs, together with the 
Elements, are all bodies made. Moreover, Devils also 
are upon this account distinguished the one from the 
other, so that some are called fiery, some earthy, some 
airy, and some watery. Hence, also, those four Infer- 
nal Rivers — fiery Phlegethon, airy Cocytus, watery 
Styx, earthy Acheron. Also in the Gospel we read of 
hell fire, and eternal fire, into which the cursed shall 
be commanded to go; and in the Revelation we read 
of a lake of fire, and Isaiah speaks of the damned 
that the Lord will smite them with corrupt air. And 
in Job, they shall skip from the waters of the snow to 
extremity of heat; and in the same we read, that the 



* A supposedly transparent envelope or azure sphere inclosing the earth 
and other like spheres, within which were carried the planetary bodies. 

t The twelve " houses " or divisional parts of the Zodiac. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC, 57 

Earth is dark, and covered with the darkness of death 
and miserable darkness. Moreover, also, these Ele- 
ments are placed in the Angels in Heaven and the 
blessed Intelligences. There is in them a stability of 
their essence, which is an earthly virtue, in which is 
the steadfast seat of God; also their mercy and piety 
is a watery cleansing virtue. Hence by the Psalmist 
they are called Waters, where he, speaking of the 
Heavens, saith, Who rulest the Waters that are higher 
than the Heavens.* Also in them their subtile breath 
is Air, and their love is shining Fire. Hence they are 
called in Scripture the Wings of the Wind; and in 
another place the Psalmist speaks of them. Who 
makest Angels thy Spirits and thy Ministers a flaming 
fire. Also according to orders of Angels, some are 
fiery, as Seraphim, and Authorities and Powers; 
earthy, as Cherubim; watery, as Thrones and Arch- 
angels; airy, as Dominions and Principalities. Do we 
not also read of the original maker of all things, that 
the earth shall be opened and bring forth a Savior? 
Is it not spoken of the same, that he shall be a fount- 
ain of living Water, cleansing and regenerating? Is 
not the same Spirit breathing the breath of life; and 
the same, according to Moses' and Paul's testimony, 
a consuming Fire? That Elements, therefore, are to 
be found everywhere, and in all things after their 
manner, no man can deny: First in these inferior 
bodies seculent and gross, and in celestials more pure 
and clear; but in supercelestials living, and in all 
respects blessed. Elements, therefore, in the exem- 
plary world are Ideas of things to be produced, in 
Intelligences are distributed powers, in Heavens are 
virtues, and in inferior bodies gross forms. 



See Psalm cxlviii., 4: " Waters that be above the Heavens." Gen., i., 6-9, 
is also noteworthy. The Watery Triplicity of the Zodiac may properly be 
termed as "Waters above the Heavens," or Celestial Waters. 



58 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

CHAPTER IX. 

Of the Virtues of things Natural, depending immediately 

upon Elements. 

Of the natural virtues of things, some are Element- 
ary, as to heat, to cool, to moisten, to dry; and they 
are called operations, or first qualities; and the second 
act: for these qualities only do wholly change the 
whole substance, which none of the other qualities 
can do. And some are in things compounded of Ele- 
ments, and these are more than first qualities, and 
such are those that are maturating, digesting, resolv- 
ing, mollifying, hardening, restringing, absterging, 
corroding, burning, opening, evaporating, strengthen- 
ing, mitigating, conglutinating, obstructing, expelling, 
retaining, attracting, repercussing, stupefying, bestow- 
ing, lubrifying and many more. Elementary qualities 
do many things in a mixed body which they cannot do 
in the Elements themselves. , And these operations 
are called secondary qualities, because they follow the 
nature and proportion of the mixtion of the first vir- 
tues, as largely it is treated of in physic books. As 
maturation, which is the operation of natural heat, 
according to a certain proportion in the substance of 
the matter, so induration is the operation of cold; so 
also is congelation, and so of the rest. And these 
operations sometimes act upon a certain member, as 
such which provoke water, milk, the flow, and they 
are called third qualities, which follow the second, as 
the second do the first. According, therefore, to these 
first, second, and third qualities many diseases are 
both cured and caused. Many things also there are 
artificially made, which men much wonder at; as is 
Fire which burns Water, which they call the Greek 
Fire, of which Aristotle teacheth many compositions 
in his particular treatise of this subject. In like 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 59 

manner there is made a Fire that is extinguished with 
oil, and is kindled with cold water, when it is sprinkled 
upon it; and a Fire which is kindled either with Rain, 
Wind or the Sun; and there is made a Fire which is 
called burning" Water, the confection whereof is well 
known, and it consumes nothing" but itself. And also 
there are made Fires that cannot be quenched, and 
incombustible Oils and perpetual Lamps, which can be 
exting"uished neither with wind, nor water, nor any 
other way; which seems utterly incredible, but that 
there had been such a most famous Lamp, which once 
did shine in the Temple of Venus, in which the stone 
Asbestos did burn, which being" once fired can never 
be extinguished. Also, on the contrary. Wood, or any 
other combustible matter may be so ordered, that it 
can receive no harm from the Fire; and there are 
made certain confections, with which the hands being" 
anointed, we may carry red-hot iron in them, or put 
them into melted metal; or go with our whole bodies, 
being first anointed therewith, into the Fire without 
any manner of harm; and such like things as these 
may be done. There is also a kind of flax, which 
Pliny calls Asbestum, the Greeks call Asbeson, which 
is not consumed by Fire, of which Anaxilaus saith, 
that a tree compassed about with it may be cut down 
with insensible blows, that cannot be heard. 



CHAPTER X. 

Of the Occult Virtues of Things. 

There are also other virtues in things, which are 
not from any Element, as to expel poison, to drive 
away the noxious vapors of minerals, to attract iron 
or anything else; and these virtues are a sequel of the 
species and form of this or that thing; whence also 



60 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

they being little in quantity, are of great efficacy; 
which is not granted to any Elementary quality. For 
these virtues, having much form and little matter, can 
do very much; but an Elementary virtue, because it 
hath more materiality, requires much matter for its 
acting. And they are called Occult Qualities, because 
their causes lie hid, and man's intellect cannot in any 
\. way reach and find them out. Wherefore philosophers 
have attained to the greatest part of them by long 
experience, rather than by the search of reason: for 
as in the stomach the meat is digested by heat, which 
we know, so it is changed by a certain hidden virtue 
which we know not: for truly it is not changed by 
heat, because then it should rather be changed by the 
fire-side than in the stomach. So there are in things, 
besides the Elementary qualities which we know, 
other certain imbred virtues created by Nature, which 
we admire and are amazed at, being such as we know 
not, and indeed seldom or never have seen. As we 
read in Ovid of the Phoenix, one only bird, which 
renews herself: 

All Birds from, others do derive their birth, 
But yet one Foiule there is in all the Earth, 
CalVd hy tN Assyrians Phoenix, xoho the wain 
Of age repairs, and soivs her self again. 

And in another place — 

^gyptus came to see this wondrous sight; 
And this rare Bird is welcomed ivith delight. 

Long since Matreas brought a very great wonder- 
ment upon the Greeks and Romans concerning him- 
self. He said that he nourished and bred a beast that 
did devour itself. Hence many to this day are solic- 
itous what this beast of Matreas should be. Who 
would not wonder that fishes should be digged out of 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 61 

the Earth, of which Aristotle, Theophrastus, and 
Polybius the historian, makes mention? And those 
thing's which Pausanius wrote concerning* the Singing" 
Stones? All these are effects of Occult Virtues. So 
the ostrich concocts cold and most hard iron, and 
dig-ests it into nourishment for his body; whose stom- 
ach, they also report, cannot be hurt with red-hot 
iron. So that little fish, called echeneis, doth so curb 
the violence of the winds, and appease the rage of the 
sea, that, let the tempests be never so imperious and 
raging, the sails also bearing a full gale, it doth not- 
withstanding by its mere touch stay the ships and 
makes them stand still, that by no means they can be 
moved. So salamanders and crickets live in the fire; 
although they seem sometimes to burn, yet they are 
not hurt. The like is said of a kind of bitumen, with 
which the weapons of the Amazons were said to be 
smeared over, by which means they could be spoiled 
neither with sword nor fire; with which also the gates 
of Caspia, made of brass, are reported to be smeared 
over by Alexander the Great. We read also that 
Noah's Ark was joined together with this bitumen, 
and that it endured some thousands of years upon the 
Mountains of Armenia. There are many such kind of 
wonderful things, scarce credible, which notwith- 
standing are known by experience. Amongst which 
Antiquity makes mention of Satyrs, which were ani- 
mals, in shape half men and half brutes, yet capable 
of speech and reason; one whereof St. Hierome report- 
eth, spake once unto holy Antonius the Hermit, and 
condemned the error of the Gentiles in worshiping 
such poor creatures as they were, and desired him that 
he would pray unto the true God for him; also he 
affirms that there w^as one of these Satyrs shewed 
openly alive, and afterwards sent to Constantine the 
Emperor. 



62 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

CHAPTER XI. 

How Occult Virtues are Infused into the several kinds of 
Things l)y Ideas, through the Help of the Soul of the 
World, and Bays of the Stars; and what Things abound 
most ivith this Virtue. 

Platonists say that all inferior bodies are exempli- 
fied by the superior Ideas. Now they define an Idea to 
be a form, above bodies, souls, minds, and to be one, 
simple, pure, immutable, indivisible, incorporeal and 
eternal; and that the nature of all Ideas in the first 
place is in very Goodness itself {i. e.), God, by way of 
cause; and that they are distinguished amongst them- 
selves by some relative considerations only, lest what- 
soever is in the world should be but one thing without 
any variety, and that they agree in essence, lest God 
should be a compound substance. In the second 
place, they place them in the very Intelligible Itself 
{i. e.), in the Soul of the World, differing the one from 
the other by absolute forms, so that all the Ideas in 
God indeed are but one form, but in the Soul of the 
World they are many. They are placed in the minds 
of all other things, whether they be joined to the 
body or separated from the body, by a certain partic- 
ipation, and now by degrees are distinguished more 
and more. They place them in Nature, as certain 
small Seed of Forms infused by the Ideas, and lastly 
they place them in matter, as Shadows. Hereunto 
may be added, that in the Soul of the World there be 
as many Seminal Forms of things as Ideas in the mind 
of God, by which forms she did in the Heavens above 
the Stars frame to herself shapes also, and stamped 
upon all these some properties. On these Stars there- 
fore, shapes and properties, all virtues of inferior 
species, as also their properties do depend; so that 
every species hath its Celestial Shape, or figure that 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 63 

is suitable to it, from which also proceeds a wonderful 
power of operating, which proper gift it receives from 
its own Idea, through the Seminal Forms of the Soul 
of the World. For Ideas are not only essential causes 
of every species, but are also the causes of every 
virtue, which is in the species; and this is that which 
many philosophers say, that the properties which are 
in the nature of things (which virtues, indeed, are the 
operations of the Ideas) are moved by certain virtues, 
viz., such as have a certain and sure foundation; not 
fortuitous, nor casual, but efficacious, powerful and 
sufficient — doing nothing in vain. Now these Virtues 
do not err in their actings, but by accident, viz. , by 
reason of the impurity or inequality of the matter: 
For upon this account there are found things of the 
same species more or less powerful, according to the 
purity or indisposition of the matter; for all Celestial 
Influences may be hindered by the indisposition and 
insufficiency of the matter. Whence it was a proverb 
amongst the Platonists, that Celestial Virtues were 
infused according to the desert or merit of the matter: 
Which also Virgil makes mention of when he sings: 

Their natures fiery are, and from above, 
And from gross bodies freed, divinely move. 

Wherefore those things in which there is less of the 
Idea of the matter (1 e.), such things which have a 
greater resemblance of things separated, have more 
powerful virtues in operation, being like to the opera- 
tion of a separated Idea. We see then that the situa- 
tion and figure of Celestials is the cause of all those 
excellent Virtues that are in inferior species.* 



* An Idea of a pure Element, whetlier the element be of time, space or 
matter, is an idea that pertains exclusively to such element, corelating with 
it as perfectly as the idea is perfect. As such idea must be evolved in an 
intelligent use of such element, so ideas are essential to occult experiment. 



64 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

CHAPTER XII. 

How it is that Particular Virtues are Infused into Particular 
Individuals, even of the same Species. 

There are also in many individuals, or particular 
things, peculiar gifts, as wonderful as in the species, 
and these also are from the figure and situation of 
Celestial Stars. For every Individual, when it begins 
to be under a determined Horoscope, and Celestial 
Constellation, contracts together with its essence a 
certain wonderful virtue both of doing and suffering 
something that is remarkable, even besides that which 
it receives from its species; and this it doth partly by 
the influence of the Heaven and partly through that 
obedientialness, of the matter of things to be gener- 
ated, to the Soul of the World, which obedientialness 
indeed is such as that of our bodies to our souls. For 
we perceive that there is this in us, that according to 
our conceptions of things our bodies are moved, and 
that cheerfully, as when we are afraid of or fly from 
any thing. So, many times when the celestial souls 
conceive several things, then the matter is moved obe- 
diently to it. Also in Nature there appear divers 
prodigies, by reason of the imagination of superior 
motions. So also they conceive and imagine divers 
virtues, not only things natural but also sometimes 
things artificial, and this especially if the Soul of 
the operator be inclined towards the same. Whence 
Avicen saith, that whatsoever things are done here, 
must have been before in the motions and conceptions 
of the Stars and Orbs. So in things various effects, 
inclinations and dispositions are occasioned not only 
from the matter variously disposed, as many suppose, 
but from a various influence and diverse form; not 
truly with a specifical difference, bat peculiar and 
proper. And the degrees of these are variously dis- 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 65 

tributed by the first cause of all thing's. God himself, 
who being unchangeable, distributes to every one as 
he pleaseth, with whom, notwithstanding, second 
causes. Angelical and Celestial, co-operate, disposing 
of the corporeal matter and other things that are 
committed to them. All virtues, therefore, are infused 
by God, through the Soul of the World, yet by a par- 
ticular power of resemblances and intelligences over- 
ruling them, and concourse of the rays, and aspects of 
the Stars in a certain peculiar harmonious consent. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Whence the Occult Virtues of Things Proceed. 

IT IS well known to all that there is a certain virtue 
in the Loadstone by which it attracts iron, and that 
the Diamond doth by its presence take away that vir- 
tue of the Loadstone. So also Amber and Jet, rubbed 
and warmed, draw a straw to them; and the stone 
Asbestos, being once fired, is never or scarce extin- 
guished. A Carbuncle shines in the dark; the stone 
Aetites put above the young fruit of women or plants 
strengthens them, but being put under, weakeneth. 
The Jasper stauncheth blood; the little fish Echeneis 
stops the ships; Rhubarb expels choler; the liver of 
the Chameleon, burnt, raiseth showers and thunders. 
The stone Heliotrope dazzles the sight, and makes him 
that wears it to be invisible; the stone Lyucurius 
takes away delusions from before the eyes, the per- 
fume of the stone Lypparis calls forth all the beasts, 
the stone Synochitis brings up infernal ghosts, the 
stone Anachitis makes the images of the Gods appear. 
The Ennectis, put under them that dream, causeth 
oracles. There is an herb in Ethiopia with which, 
they report, ponds and lakes are dried up, and all 



66 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

things that are shut to be opened; and we read of an 
herb, called Latace, which the Persian kings give to 
their embassadors, that whithersoever they shall come 
they shall abound with plenty of all things. There is 
also a Scythian herb with which, being tasted or at 
least held in the mouth, they report the Scythians will 
endure twelve days' hunger and thirst; and Apuleius 
saith that he was taught by an Oracle that there were 
many kinds of herbs and stones with which men 
might prolong their lives forever, but that it was not 
lawful for men to understand the knowledge of those 
things because, whereas they, have but a short time to 
live, they study mischief with all their might and 
attempt all manner of wickedness; if they should be 
sure of a very long time, they would not spare the 
Gods themselves. But from whence these virtues are 
none of all these have shewed who have set forth 
huge volumes of the properties of things, not Hermes, 
not Bochus, not Aaron, not Orpheus, not Theophras- 
tus, not Thebith, not Zenothemis, not Zoroaster, not 
Evax, not Dioscorides, not Isaaick the Jew, not Zach- 
arias the Babylonian, not Albertus, not Arnoldus; and 
yet all these have confessed the same, that Zacharias 
writes to Mithridites, that great power and human 
destinies are couched in the virtues of Stones and 
Herbs. But to know from whence these come, a 
higher speculation is required. Alexander the peripa- 
tetic, not going any further than his senses and 
qualities, is of the opinion that these proceed from 
Elements, and their qualities, which haply might be 
supposed to be true, if those were of the same species; 
but many of the operations of the Stones agree neither 
in genere nor specie. Therefore Plato and his scholars 
attribute these virtues to Ideas, the formers of things. 
But Avicen reduceth these kinds of operations to 
Intelligences, Hermes to the Stars, Albertus to the 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 67 

specifical forms of things. And althoug-h these authors 
seem to thwart one the other, yet none of them, if 
they be rightly understood, goes beside the truth; 
since all their sayings are the same in effect in most 
things. For God, in the first place, is the end and 
beginning of all Virtues; he gives the seal of the Ideas 
to his servants, the Intelligences; who, as faithful 
officers, sign all things intrusted to them with an 
Ideal Virtue; the Heavens and Stars, as instruments, 
disposing the matter in the mean while for the receiv- 
ing of those forms which reside in Divine Majesty (as 
saith Plato in Timeus) and to be conveyed by Stars; 
and the Giver of Forms distributes them by the Min- 
istry of his Intelligences, which he hath set as Rulers 
and Controllers over his Works, to whom such a 
power is intrusted in things committed to them that 
so all Virtues of Stones, Herbs, Metals, and all other 
things may come from the Intelligences, the Govern- 
ors. The Form, therefore, and Virtue of things comes 
first from the Ideas, then from the rnling and govern- 
ing Intelligences, then from the aspects of the Heavens 
disposing, and lastly from the tempers of the Elements 
disposed, answering the influences of the Heavens, by 
which the Elements themselves are ordered, or dis- 
posed. These kinds of operations, therefore, are per- 
formed in these inferior things by express forms, and 
in the Heavens by disposing virtues, in Intelligences 
by mediating rules, in the Original Cause by Ideas and 
exemplary forms, all which must of necessity agree in 
the execution of the effect and virtue of every thing. 

There is, therefore, a wonderful virtue and operation 
in every Herb and Stone, but greater in a Star, beyond 
which, even from the governing Intelligences every 
thing receiveth and obtains many things for itself, 
especially from the Supreme Cause, with whom all 
things do mutually and exactly correspond, agreeing 



68 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

in an harmonious consent, as it were in hymns, always 
praising" the highest Maker of all things, as by the 
three children in the fiery furnace were all things 
called upon to praise God with singings. Bless ye the 
Lord all things that grow upon the Earth, and all 
things which move in the Waters, all fowls of the 
Heavens, beasts and cattle, together with the sons of 
men. There is, therefore, no other cause of the neces- 
sity of effects than the connection of all things with 
the First Cause, and their correspondency with those 
Divine patterns and eternal Ideas whence every thing 
hath its determinate and particular place in the exem- 
plary world, from whence it lives and receives its 
original being: And every virtue of herbs, stones, 
metals, animals, words and speeches, and all things 
that are of God, is placed there. Now the First Cause, 
which is God, although he doth by Intelligences and 
the Heavens work upon these inferior things, doth 
sometimes (these mediums being laid aside, or their 
officiating being suspended) works those things imme- 
diately by himself, which works then are called Mira- 
cles. But whereas secondary causes, which Plato 
and others call handmaids, do by the command and 
appointment of the First Cause, necessarily act, and 
are necessitated to produce their effects, if God shall 
notwithstanding, according to his pleasure, so dis- 
charge and suspend them, that they shall wholly desist 
from the necessity of that command and appointment; 
then they are called the greatest Miracles of God. 
So the fire in the Chaldeans' furnace did not burn the 
Children. So also the Sun at the command of Joshua 
went back from its course the space of a whole day; 
so also at the prayer of Hezekiah it went back ten 
degrees, or hours. So when Christ was crucified the 
Sun was darkened, though at full Moon. And the rea- 
sons of these operations can by no rational discourse, 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC, 69 

no Magic, or occult or profound Science whatsoever 
be found out or understood, but are to be learned and 
inquired into by Divine Oracles only. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Of the Spirit of the World, What It Is, and hoio by way of 
medium It Unites occult Virtues to their Subjects. 

Democritus and Orpheus, and many Pythagoreans, 
having most diligently searched into the virtues of 
celestial things and natures of inferior things, said: 
That all things are full of God and not without cause. 
For there is nothing of such transcending virtues, 
which being destitute of Divine assistance, is content 
with the nature of itself. Also they called those 
Divine Powers which are diffused in things, Gods; 
which Zoroaster called Divine Allurements; Synesius, 
Sj^mbolical Inticements; others called them Lives, and 
some also Souls, saying that the virtues of things did 
depend upon these, because it is the property of the 
Soul to be from one matter extended into divers things 
about which it operates: So is a man who extends his 
intellect unto intelligible things, and his imagination 
unto imaginable things; and this is that which they 
understood when they said, viz. : That the Soul of one 
thing went out and went into another thing, altering 
it, and hindering the operations of it: as the diamond 
hinders the operation of the loadstone, that it cannot 
attract iron. Now seeing the Soul is the first thing 
that is movable and, as they say, is moved of itself; 
but the body, or the matter, is of itself unable and 
unfit for motion, and doth much degenerate from the 
Soul, therefore they say there is need of a more excel- 
lent medium, viz., such a one that may be, as it were, 
no body, but, as it were, a Soul; or, as it were, no Soul, 



70 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

but, as it were, a body, viz. , by which the soul may be 
joined to the body. Now they conceive such a medium 
to be the Spirit of the World, viz., that which we call 
the quintessence, because it is not from the four Ele- 
ments, but a certain first thing, having its being above 
and besides them. There is, therefore, such a kind of 
spirit required to be, as it were the medium, whereby 
Celestial Souls are joined to gross bodies, and bestow 
upon them wonderful gifts. This Spirit is after the 
same manner in the body of the world, as ours is in 
the body of man. For as the powers of our soul are 
communicated to the members of the body by the 
spirit, so also the Virtue of the Soul of the World is 
diffused through all things by the quintessence: For 
there is nothing found in the whole world that hath 
not a spark of the virtue thereof. Yet it is more, nay, 
most of all, infused into those things which have 
received or taken in most of this Spirit. Now this 
Spirit is received or taken in by the rays of the Stars, 
so far forth as things render themselves conformable 
to them. By this Spirit, therefore, every occult prop- 
erty is conveyed into herbs, stones, metals, and ani- 
mals, through the Sun,, Moon, Planets, and through 
Stars higher than the Planets. 

Now this Spirit may be more advantageous to us if 
any one knew how to separate it from the Elements; 
or at least to use those things chiefly which do most 
abound with this Spirit. For these things, in which 
this Spirit is less drowned in a body and less checked 
by matter, do more powerfully and perfectly act, and 
also more readily generate their like; for in it are all 
generative and seminary virtues. For which cause 
the Alchemists endeavored to separate this Spirit 
from Gold and Silver; which being rightly separated 
and extracted, if thou shalt afterward project it upon 
any matter of the same kind {i. e.), any metal, presently 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 71 

will turn it into Gold or Silver. And we know how 
to do that, and have seen it done: but we could make 
no more Gold than the weight of that was out of which 
we extracted the Spirit; for seeing- that [gold] is an 
extense form, and not intense, it cannot beyond its own 
bounds change an imperfect body into a perfect; which 
I deny not, but may be done by another way. 



CHAPTER XV. 

How we must Find Out and Examine the Virtues of Tilings 
by ivay of Similitude. 

It is now manifest that the occult properties in 
things are not from the nature of the Elements, but 
infused from above, hid from our senses, and scarce at 
last known by our reason, which indeed come from the 
Life and the Spirit of the World, through the rays of 
the Stars; and can no otherwise but by experience and 
conjecture be inquired into by us. "Wherefore, he that 
desires to enter upon this study must consider that 
every thing moves and turns itself to its like, and 
inclines that to itself with all its might, as well in 
property, viz.. Occult Virtue, as in quality, viz., Ele- 
mentary Virtue. Sometimes also in substance itself, 
as we see in salt, for whatsoever hath long stood with 
salt becomes salt; for every agent, when it hath begun 
to act, doth not attempt to make a thing inferior to 
itself, but, as much as may be, like and suitable to 
itself. Which also we manifestly see in sensible ani- 
mals, in which the nutritive virtue doth not change 
the meat into an herb or a plant, but turns it into sen- 
sible flesh. In what things, therefore, there is an 
excess of any quality or property, as heat, cold, bold- 
ness, fear, sadness, anger, love, hatred, or any other 
passion or virtue (whether it be in them by nature or, 



72 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

sometimes also, by art or chance, as boldness in a 
wanton), these things do very much move and provoke 
to such a quality, passion or virtue. So fire moves to 
fire, and water moves to water, and he that is bold 
moves to boldness. And it is well known amongst 
physicians that brain helps the brain, and lungs the 
lungs. So also it is said that the right eye of a frog 
helps the soreness of a man's right eye, and the left 
eye thereof helps the soreness of his left eye, if they^ 
be hanged about his neck in a cloth of its natural 
color. The like is reported of the eyes of a crab. So 
the feet of a tortoise helps them that have the gout 
in their being applied thus — as foot to foot, hand to 
hand, right to right, left to left. 

After this manner they say that any animal that is 
barren causeth another to be barren, and of the ani- 
mal especially the generative parts. So they report 
that a female shall be barren if, betimes, drink be 
made of a certain sterile animal, or anything steeped 
therewith. If, therefore, we would obtain any property 
or virtue, let us seek for such animals, or such other 
things whatsoever, in which such a property is in a 
more eminent manner than in any other thing, and in 
these let us take that part in which such a property 
or virtue is most vigorous; as if at any time we would 
promote love, let us seek some animal which is most 
loving, of which kind are pigeons, turtles, sparrows, 
swallows, wagtails, and in these take those members 
or parts in which the vital virtue is most vigorous, 
such as the heart, breast, and also like parts. And it 
must be done at that time when these animals have 
this affection most intense, for then they do provoke 
and draw love. In like manner, to increase boldness, 
let us look for a lion, or a cock, and of these let us 
take the heart, eyes or forehead. And so we must 
understand that which Psellus the Platonist saith, 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 73 

viz., that dogs, crows, and cocks conduce much to 
watchfulness, also the nightingale and bat and horned 
owl, and in these the heart, head and eyes especially. 
Therefore, it is said, if any shall carry the heart of a 
crow or a bat about him, he shall not sleep till he cast 
it away from him. The same doth the head of a bat, 
dried and bound to the right arm of him that is awake, 
for if it, be put upon him when he is asleep, it is said 
that he shall not be awaked till it be taken off from 
him. After the same manner doth a frog and an owl 
make one talkative, and of these specially the tongue 
and heart. So the tongue also of a v/ater-frog, laid 
under the head, makes a man speak in his sleep; and 
the heart of a screech-owl, laid upon the left breast of 
a woman that is asleep, is said to make her utter all 
her secrets. The same also the heart of the horned 
owl is said to do, also the suet of a hare, laid upon the 
breast of one that is asleep. Upon the same account 
do animals that are long lived conduce to long life;, 
and whatsoever things have a power in themselves to 
renew themselves conduce to the renovation of our 
body and restoring of youth, which physicians have 
often professed they know to be true; as is manifest 
of the viper and snake. And it is known that harts 
renew their old age by the eating of snakes. After 
the same manner the phoenix is renewed by a fire 
which she makes for herself; and the like virtue there 
is in a pelican, whose right foot being put under warm 
dung, after three months there is of that generated a 
pelican. Therefore some physicians by some certain 
confections made of vipers, and hellebore, and the flesh 
of some such kind of animals, do restore youth, and 
indeed do sometimes restore it so, as Medea restored 
old Pileas. It is also believed that the blood of a bear, 
if it be sucked out of her wound, doth increase strength 
of body, because that animal is the strongest creature. 



74 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

CHAPTER XVI. 

How the Operations of several Virtues Pass from one thing 
into another, and are Communicated one to the other. 

Thou must know that so great is the power of nat- 
ural things that they not only work upon all things 
that are near them, by their virtue, but also besides 
this, they infuse into them a like power, through 
which, by the same virtue, they also work upon other 
things, dS we see in the loadstone, which stone indeed 
doth not only draw iron rings, but infuseth a virtue 
into the rings themselves, whereby they can do the 
same, which Austin and Albertus say they saw. After 
this manner it is, as they say, that a wanton, grounded 
in boldness and impudence, is like to infect all that 
are near her, by this property, whereby they are made 
like herself. So Paul saith to the Corinthians, Evil 
communications doth corrupt good manners. There- 
fore they say that if any one shall put on the inward 
garment of a wanton, or shall have about him that 
looking-glass which she daily looks into, he shall 
thereby become bold, confident, impudent and wanton. 
In like manner, they say, that a cloth that was about 
a corpse hath received from thence the property of 
sadness and melancholy; and that the halter where- 
with a man was hanged hath certain wonderful prop- 
erties. The like story tells Pliny: If any shall put a 
green lizard, made blind, together with iron or gold 
rings, into a glass vessel, putting under them some 
earth, and then shutting the vessel, and when it 
appears that the lizard hath received his sight, shall 
put him out of the glass, that those rings shall help 
sore eyes. The same may be done with rings and a 
weasel, whose eyes after they are, with any kind of 
prick, put out, it is certain are restored to sight again. 
Upon the same account rings are put for a certain time 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 75 

in the nest of sparrows or swallows, which afterwards 
are used to procure love and favor. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Hoio by Enmity and Friendship the Virtues of things are to 
be Tried and Found Out. 

In the next place it is requisite that we consider 
that all things have a friendliness and enmity amongst 
themselves, and every thing hath something that it 
fears and dreads, that is an enemy and destructive to 
it; and, on the contrary, something that it rejoiceth 
and delighteth in and is strengthened by. So in the 
Elements, Fire is an enemy to Water, and Air to Earth, 
but yet they agree amongst themselves. And, again, 
in Celestial bodies, Mercury, Jupiter, the Sun and 
Moon are friends to Saturn; Mars and Venus enemies 
to him. All the planets besides Mars are friends to 
Jupiter, also all besides Venus hate Mars; Jupiter and 
Venus love the Sun; Mars, Mercury and the Moon are 
enemies to him. All besides Saturn love Venus. 
Jupiter, Venus and Saturn are friends to Mercury; the 
Sun, Moon and Mars his enemies. Jupiter, Venus and 
Saturn are friends to the Moon; Mars and Mercury her 
enemies. There is another kind of enmity amongst 
the stars, viz., when they have opposite houses, as 
Saturn to the Sun and Moon, Jupiter to Mercury, and 
Mars to Venus. And their enmity is stronger whose 
exaltations are opposite, as of Saturn and the Sun, of 
Jupiter and Mars, and of Venus and Mercury. But 
their friendship is the strongest who agree iu nature, 
quality, substance and power, as Mars with the Sun, 
as Venus with the Moon, and as Jupiter with Venus; 
as also their friendship whose exaltation is in the 
house of another, as that of Saturn with Venus, of 



76 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Jupiter with the Moon, of Mars with Saturn, of the 
Sun with Mars, of Venus with Jupiter, and of the 
Moon with Venus. And of what sort the friendships 
and enmities of the superiors be, such are the inclina- 
tions of things subjected to them in those inferior. 
These dispositions, therefore, of friendship and enmity 
are nothing* else but certain inclinations of things of 
the one to another, desiring such-and-such a thing if 
it be absent, and to move towards it unless it be hin- 
dered; and to acquiesce in it when it is obtained, shun- 
ning the contrary and dreading the approach of it, 
and not resting in or being contented with it. Her- 
aclitus,* therefore, being guided by this opinion, 
professed that all things were made by enmity and 
friendship. 

Now the inclinations of Friendship are such in all 
Vegetables and Minerals, as is that attractive virtue 
or inclination which the loadstone hath upon iron, and 
the emerald upon riches and favor, the jasper upon 
the birth of any thing, and the stone achates upon 
eloquence. In like manner there is a kind of bitumi- 
nous clay that draws fire, and leaps into it, whereso- 
ever it sees it. Even so doth the root of the herb 
aproxis draw fire from afar off. Also the same incli- 
nation there is betwixt the male palm-tree and female; 
whereof, when the bough of one shall touch the bough 
of the other, they fold themselves into mutual em- 
braces; neither doth the female palm-tree bring forth 
fruit without the male. And the almond tree, when 

* Sometimes given as Heracleitus, a Greek philosoplier who lived about 
500 B. C. He was known as the " weeping philosopher," so impressed was he 
by the weaknesses of mankind. Only fragments of his philosophical work, 
"Peri Physeos " (On Nature), remain. These fragments go to show that 
Heraclitus held " fire to be the first principle of all phenomena, and the 
original substance out of which they have all been evolved." Agrippa, in 
the above, throws further light on his philosophy. The fragments of the 
teachings of Heraclitus were collected, at Berlin, in 1805, while Agrippa 
wrote some three hundred years earlier. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 77 

she is alone is less fruitful. The vines love the elm, 
and the olive-tree and myrtle love one the other; also 
the olive-tree and fig--tree. 

Now, in Birds and Animals, there is amity betwixt 
the blackbird and thrush, betwixt the crow and heron, 
betwixt peacocks and pig-eons, turtles and parrots. 
Whence Sappho writes to Phaon: 

To Birds unlike oftimes joyned are white Doves; 
Also the Bird thaVs green, black Turtle loves. 

Again, the whale and the little fish, his guide, are 
friendly. Neither is this amity in Animals amongst 
themselves, but also with other things, as with Metals, 
Stones and Vegetables: So the cat delights in the 
herb catnip and rubbeth herself upon it, and there be 
mares in Cappadocia that expose themselves to the 
blast of the wind. So frogs, toads, snakes, and all 
manner of creeping poisonous things, delight in the 
plant called pas-flowxr, of whom, as the physicians 
say, if any one eat, he shall die with laughing. The 
tortoise, also, when he is hunted by the adder, eats 
origanum, and is thereby strengthened; and the stork, 
when he hath eat snakes, seeks for a remedy in origa- 
num; and the weasel, when he goes to fight with the 
basilisk, eats rue — whence we come to know that orig- 
anum and rue are effectual against poison. So in 
some Animals there is an imbred skill and medicinal 
art; for when the toad is wounded with a bite or poi- 
son of another animal, he is wont to go to rue or sage 
and rub the place wounded, and so escapes the danger 
of the poison. So men have learned many excellent 
remedies of diseases and virtues of things from brutes; 
so swallows have shewed us that sallendine is very 
medicinable for the sight, with which they cure the 
eyes of their young; and the pyet, when she is sick, 
puts a bay-leaf into her nest, and is recovered. In 



78 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

like manner, cranes, jackdaws, partridges, and black- 
birds purge their nauseous stomachs with the same, 
with which also crows allay the poison of the chame- 
leon; and the lion, if he be feverish, is recovered by 
eating of an ape. The lapwing, being surfeited with 
eating of grapes, cures himself with southernwood; so 
the harts have taught us that the herb ditany is very 
good to draw out darts; for they, being wounded with 
an arrow, cast it out by eating of this herb; the same 
do goats in Candy. So hinds, a little before they 
bring forth, purge themselves with a certain herb 
called mountain osier. Also they that are hurt with 
spiders seek a remedy by eating of crabs. Swine also 
being hurt by snakes cure themselves by eating of 
them; and cows, when they perceive they are poisoned 
with a kind of French poison, seek for cure in the oak. 
Elephants, when they have swallowed a chameleon, 
help themselves with the wild olive. Bears, being 
hurt with mandrakes, escape the danger by eating of 
ants. Geese, ducks, and such like watery fowl, cure 
themselves with the herb called wall-sage. Pigeons, 
turtles, and hens, with the herb called pellitory of the 
wall. Cranes, with bulrushes. Leopards cure them- 
selves, being hurt, with the herb called wolf's-bane; 
boars, with ivy; hinds, with the herb called cinnara. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

0/ the Inclinations of Enmities. 

On the contrary, there are Inclinations of Enmities, 
and they are, as it were, the odium, and anger, indig- 
nation, and a certain kind of obstinate contrariety of 
nature, so that any thing shuns its contrary and drives 
it away out of its presence. Such kinds of inclinations 
hath rhubarb against choler, treacle against poison, 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. . 79 

the sapphire stone against hot boils and feverish heats 
and diseases of the eyes; the amethyst against drunk- 
enness, the jasper against flux of blood and offensive 
imaginations, the emerald and angus castus against 
lust, achates against poison, piony against the falling 
sickness, coral against the ebullition of black choler 
and pains in the stomach. The topaz against spiritual 
heats, such as are covetousness, lust, and all manner 
of excesses of love. The like inclination is there also 
of ants against the herb origanum; and the wing of a 
bat and the heart of a lapwing, from the presence of 
which they fly. Also origanum is contrary to a cer- 
tain poisonous fly, which cannot endure the Sun, and 
resists salamanders, and loathes cabbage with such a 
deadly hatred that they destroy one the other. So 
cucumbers hate oil, and will run themselves into a 
ring lest they should touch it. And it is said that the 
gall of a crow makes men afraid and drives them 
away from where it is, as also certain other things. 
So a diamond doth disagree with the loadstone, that 
being set by it, it will not suffer iron to be drawn to it; 
and sheep fly from frog-parsley as from some deadly 
thing, and that, which is more wonderful. Nature hath 
pictured the sign of this death in the livers of sheep, in 
which the very figure of frog-parsley, being described, 
doth naturally appear. So goats do so hate garden 
basil as if there were nothing more pernicious. And 
again, amongst animals, mice and weasels do disagree; 
whence it is said that mice will not touch cheese if 
the brains of a weasel be put in the rennet, and besides 
that the cheese will not be corrupt with age. So a 
lizard is so contrary to scorpions that it makes them 
afraid with its very sight, as also it puts them into a 
cold sweat; therefore they are killed with the oil of 
lizards, which oil also cures the wounds made by scor- 
pions. There is also an enmity betwixt scorpions a<.nd 



80 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

mice; wherefore if a mouse be applied to a prick or 
wound made by a scorpion, it cures it, as it is reported. 
There is also an enmity betwixt scorpions and stala- 
bors, asps and wasps. It is reported, also, that no 
thing- is so much an enemy to snakes as crabs, and 
that if swine be hurt therewith they eat them and are 
cured. The Sun, also, being in Cancer, serpents are 
tormented. Also the scorpion and crocodile kill one 
the other; and if the bird ibis doth but touch a croco- 
dile with one of his feathers, he makes him immova- 
ble. The bird called bustard flies away at the sight of 
a horse, and a hart runs away at the sight of a ram, 
as also of a viper. An elephant trembles at the hear- 
ing of the grunting of a hog, so doth a lion at the 
sight of a cock; and panthers will not touch them 
that are anointed all over with the broth of a hen, 
especially if garlic hath been boiled in it. There is 
also enmity betwixt foxes and swans, bulls and jack- 
daws. Amongst birds, also, some are at perpetual 
strife one with another, as also with other animals, as 
jackdaws and owls, the kite and crows, the turtle and 
ring-tail, egepis and eagles, harts and dragons. Also 
amongst water animals there is enmity, as betwixt 
dolphins and whirlpools, mullets and pikes, lampreys 
and congers. Also the fish called pourcontrel makes 
the lobster so much afraid that the lobster, seeing the 
other but near him, is struck dead. The lobster and 
conger tear one the other. The civet cat is said to 
stand so in awe of the panther that he hath no power 
to resist him or touch his skin; and they say that if 
the skins of both of them be hanged up one against 
the other, the hairs of the panther's skin fall off. 
And Orus Apollo saith in his hieroglyphics, if any one 
be girt about with the skin of the civet cat that he 
may pass safely through the middle of his enemies 
and not at all be afraid. Also the lamb is very much 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 81 

afraid of the wolf and flies from him. And they say- 
that if the tail or skin or head of a wolf be hanged 
upon the sheep-coate the sheep are much troubled and 
cannot eat their meat for fear. And Pliny makes 
mention of a bird, called marlin, that breaks crows' 
egg's, whose young are so annoyed by the fox that she 
also will pinch and pull the fox's whelps, and the fox 
herself also; which when the crows see, they help the 
fox against her, as against a common enemy. The 
little bird called a linnet, living in thistles, hates 
asses, because they eat the flowers of thistles. Also 
there is such a bitter enmity betwixt the little bird 
called esalon and the ass that their blood will not mix 
together, and that at the braying of the ass both the 
eggs and young of the esalon perish. There is also 
such a disagreement betwixt the olive-tree and a 
wanton, that if she plant it, it will either be always 
unfruitful or altogether wither.* A lion fears nothing 
so much as fired torches, and will be tamed by nothing 
so much as by these; and the wolf fears neither sword 
nor spear, but a stone — by the throwing of which, a 
wound being made, worms breed in the wolf. A horse 
fears a camel so that he cannot endure to see so much 
as his picture. An elephant, when he rageth, is qui- 
eted by seeing of a cock. A snake is afraid of a man 
that is naked, but pursues a man that is clothed. A 
mad bull is tamed by being tied to a fig-tree. Amber 



*This illustration of a natural antipathy said to exist between a wanton 
and an olive-tree, as well as other illustrations herein of the occult virtues 
of things, may he regarded as somewhat fanciful, hut the reader will be 
able to bring to mind plenty of natural phenomena that fully prove the 
leading truths that Agrippa here seeks to convey. For instance, the writer 
knows one person of whom it may be justly claimed that every plant grows 
that he touches, while his mother, rendering the same care, finds it impos- 
sible to raise a plant. All women know, who have had the experience, that 
at certain times each month they cannot make pickles that will not spoil. 
The explanation of these things are found in the occult virtues of Nature; 
the inherent sympathy, amity or antipathy in all things to all other things, 
which Agrippa so admirably sets forth. 



82 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

draws all things to it besides garden basil and those 
things which are smeared with oil, betwixt which 
there is a kind of a natural antipathy. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

How the Virtues of Things are to he Tried and Found Out, 
which are in them Specifically, or in any one Individual 
by way of Special Gift. 

Moreover, thou must consider that the Virtues of 
things are in some things according to the Species, as 
boldness and courage in a lion and cock, fearfulness 
in a hare or lamb, ravenousness in a wolf, treachery 
and deceitfulness in a fox, flattery in a dog, covetous- 
ness in a crow and jackdaw, pride in a horse, anger in 
a tiger and boar, sadness and melancholy in a cat, lust 
in a sparrow, and so of the rest. For the greatest 
part of Natural Virtues doth follow the Species. Yet 
some are in things Individually; as there be some men 
which do so wonderfully abhor the sight of a cat that 
they cannot look upon her without quaking; which 
fear, it is manifest, is not in them, as they are men. 
And Avicen tells of a man that lived in his time, whom 
all poisonous things did shun, all of them dying which 
did by chance bite him, he himself not being hurt; and 
Albertus reports that in a city of the Ubians he saw 
a wench who would catch spiders to eat them, and 
being much pleased with such a kind of meat, was 
wonderfully nourished therewith. So is boldness in a 
wanton, and fearfulness in a thief. And upon this 
account it is that philosophers say that any particular 
thing that never was sick is good against any manner 
of sickness; therefore they say that a bone of a dead 
man, who never had a fever, being laid upon the 
patient, frees him of his quartan. There are also 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 83 

many sing*ular virtues infused into particular things 
by Celestial bodies, as we have shewed before. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The Natural Virtues are in some Things throughout their 
Whole Substance^ and in other Things in Certain Parts 
and Members. 

Again thou must consider that the Virtues of things 
are in some things in the whole (1 e.), the whole sub- 
stance of them, or in all their parts, as that little fish 
echeneis,* which is said to stop a ship by its mere 
touch; this it doth not do according to any particular 
part, but according to the whole substance. So the 
civet cat hath this in its whole substance, that dogs, 
by the very touch of his shadow, hold their peace. 
So salendine is good for the sight, not according to 
any one but all its parts; not more in the root than in 
the leaves and seeds, and so of the rest. But some 
Virtues are in things according to some parts of it, 
viz. , only in the tongue, or eyes, or some other mem- 



*The belief that the Echeneis, a fish of the Remora or Sucker family, 
has the power of stopping ships was formerly quite prevalent. In Good- 
win's translation of Plutarch's Morals, volume three, we find the following 
story: "Chaeremomanus, the Trallian, when we were at a very noble fish- 
dinner, pointing to a little, long, sharp-headed fish, said the echeneis (ship- 
stopper) was like that, for he had often seen it as he sailed in the Sicilian 
sea, and wondered at its strange force, for it stopped the ship when under 
full sail, until one of the seamen perceived it sticking to the outside of the 
ship, and took it off." Oppian says, describing its occult virtue: 

"But though the canvas bellies with the blast. 
And boisterous winds bend down the cracking mast, 
The bark stands firmly rooted on the sea 
And all unmov'd, as tower, or towering tree." 

Pliny says: "Why should our fieets and armadas at sea make such tur- 
rets on the walls and forecastles, when one little fish is able to arrest and 
stay, per force, our goodly and tall ships?"— Nat. Hist., Vol. XI., p. 41. Ovid 
writes, "There, too, is the little sucking fish, wondrous to behold, a vast 
obstruction to ships," and Lucan says the echeneis stops ships on the ocean. 



84 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

bers and parts; so in the eyes of a basilisk is a most 
violent power to kill men as soon as they see them. 
The like power is there in the eyes of the civet cat, 
which makes any animal that it hath looked upon to 
stand still, to be amazed, and not able to move itself. 
The like virtue is there in the eyes of some wolves, 
who, if they see a man first, make him amazed and so 
hoarse, that if he would cry out, he hath not the use 
of his voice. Of this Virgil makes mention when he 
sings : 

Moeris is dumb, hath lost his voice, and why ? 
The Wolf on Moeris first hath cast his eye. 

So also there were some certain women in Scythia, 
and amongst the Illyrians and Triballians, w^ho as 
often as they looked angrily upon any man, were said 
to slay him. Also we read of a certain people of 
Rhodes, called Telchines, who corrupted all things 
with their sight, wherefore Jupiter drowned them. 
Therefore witches, when they would after this manner 
work by witchcraft, use the eyes of such kind of ani- 
mals in their waters for the eyes, for the like effects. 
In like manner do ants fly from the heart of a lapwing 
and not from the head, foot or eyes. So the gall of 
lizards, being bruised in water, is said to gather wea- 
sels together; not the tail or the head of it. The gall 
of goats, put into the earth in a brazen vessel, gathers 
frogs together; and a goat's liver is an enemy to but- 
terflies and all maggots. Dogs shun them that have 
the heart of a dog about them; and foxes will not 
touch those poultry that have eaten the liver of a fox. 
So divers things have divers virtues dispersed vari- 
ously through several parts, as they are from above 
infused into them according to the diversity of things 
to be received; as in a man's body the bones receive 
nothing but life, the eyes sight, and the ears hearing. 



PHILOSOPHY OP NATURAL MAGIC. , 85 

And there is in man's body a certain little bone, which 
the Hebrews call LVZ, of the bigness of a pulse that 
is husked, which is subject to no corruption, neither is 
it overcome with fire, but is always preserved unhurt, 
out of which, as they say, as a plant out of the seed, 
our animal bodies shall in the resurrection of the dead 
spring up. And these Virtues are not cleared by rea- 
son, but by experience. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Of the Virtues of Tilings ivhich are in them only in their 
Life Time, and Such as Remain in them even After their 
Death. 

Moreover, we must know that there are some prop- 
erties in things only whilst they live, and some that 
remain after their death. So the little fish echeneis 
stops the ships, and the basilisk and catablepa kill 
with their sight when they are alive; but when they 
are dead do no such thing. So they say that in the 
colic, if a live duck be applied to the abdomen it takes 
away the pain and herself dies. Like to this is that 
which Archytas says: If you take a heart, newly 
taken out of an animal, and, whilst it is yet warm, 
hang it upon one that hath a quartan fever, it drives 
it away. So if anj^ one swallow the heart of a lap- 
wing, or a swallow, or a weasel, or a mole, whilst it is 
yet warm with natural heat, it shall be helpful to him 
for remembering, understanding, and for foretelling. 
Hence is this general rule, viz. : That whatsoever 
things are taken out of animals, whether they be any 
member, the hair, nails, or such like, they must be 
taken from those animals whilst they be yet living; 
and, if it be possible, that so they may be alive after- 
wards. Whence they say, when you take the tongue 



i 



86 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

of a frog, you must put the frog" into the water again; 
and if you take the tooth of a wolf, you must not kill 
the wolf; and so of the rest. So writes Democritus, if 
any one take out the tongue of a water-frog, yet liv- 
ing, no other part of the body sticking to it, and she 
be let go into the water again, and lay it upon the 
place where the heart beats of a woman, she shall 
answer truly whatsoever you ask her. Also they say, 
that if the eyes of a frog be before sunrising bound to 
the sick party, and the frog be let go again, blind, into 
the water, they will drive away tertian ague; as also 
that they will, being bound with the flesh of a night- 
ingale in the skin of a hart, keep one always watchful 
without sleep. Also the ray of the fork-fish, being 
bound to the navel, is said to make a woman have an 
easy travail, if the ray be taken from the fish alive 
and it put into the sea again. So they say the right 
eye of a serpent, being applied, doth help the water- 
ing of the eyes if the serpent be let go alive. And 
there is a certain fish or great serpent, called Myrus, 
whose eye, if it be pulled out, and bound to the fore- 
head of the patient, is said to cure the inflammation 
of the eyes; and that the eye of the fish grows again; 
and that he is taken blind who will not let the fish 
go. Also the teeth of all serpents, being taken out 
whilst they are alive, and hanged about the patient, 
are said to cure the quartan. So doth the tooth of a 
mole, taken out whilst she is alive, being afterwards 
let go, cure the toothache; and dogs will not bark at 
those that have the tail of a weasel that is escaped. 
And Democritus relates that the tongue of a chame- 
leon, if it be taken from her alive, doth conduce to a 
good success in trials, and is profitable for women that 
are in travail, if it be about the outside of the house, 
for you must take heed that it be not brought into the 
house, because that would be most dangerous. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 87 

Moreover, there be some properties that remain after 
death, and of these the Platonists say, that they are 
thing's in which the Idea of the matter is less swal- 
lowed up. In these, even after death, that which is 
immortal in them doth not cease to work wonderful 
thing's. So in the herbs and plants, pulled asunder 
and dried, that Virtue is quick and operative which 
was infused at first into them by the Idea. Thence it 
is that as the eag"le all her life time doth overcome all 
other birds, so also her feathers, after her death, 
destroy and consume the feathers of all other birds. 
Upon the same account doth a lion's skin destroy all 
other skins; and the skin of the civet cat destroys the 
skin of the panther; and the skin of a wolf corrodes 
the skin of a lamb. And some of these do not do it 
by way of a corporeal contact, but also sometimes by 
their very sound. So a drum made of the skin of a 
wolf makes a drum made of a lamb-skin not to sound. 
Also a drum made of the skin of the fish called rochet 
drives away all creeping things, at what distance 
soever the sound of it is heard; and the strings of an 
instrument made of the intestines of a wolf, and being 
strung upon a harp or lute with strings made of the 
intestines of a sheep, will make no harmony. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Hoiu Inferior Things are Subjected to Superior Bodies, and 
how the Bodies^ the Actions, and Dispositions of Men are 
Ascribed to Stars and Signs. 

It is manifest that all things inferior are subject to 
the superior, and after a manner (as saith Proclus) they 
are one in the other, viz. , in inferiors are superior and 
in superiors are inferior: So in the Heaven are things 
terrestrial, but as in their cause, and in a celestial 



88 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

manner; and in the Earth are things celestial, but 
after a terrestrial manner, as in an effect. So we say 
that there be here certain things which are Solary 
and certain which are Lunary, in which the Sun and 
Moon make a strong impression of their virtues. 
Whence it is that these kind of things receive more 
operations and properties, like to those of the Stars 
and Signs which they are under. So we know that 
Solary things respect the heart and head by reason 
that Leo is the house of the Sun, and Aries the exal- 
tation of the Sun. So things under Mars are good for 
the head and secrets by reason of Aries and Scorpio. 
Hence they whose senses fail and heads ache by rea- 
son of drunkenness, find cold water and vinegar good 
to bathe the head and secrets. But in reference to 
these it is necessary to know how man's body is dis- 
tributed to Planets and Signs. Know, therefore, that 
according to the doctrine of the Arabians, the Sun 
rules over the brain, heart, the thigh, the marrow, the 
right eye, and the spirit; also the tongue, the mouth, 
and the rest of the organs of the senses, as well inter- 
nal as external; also the hands, feet, legs, nerves, and 
the power of imagination. That Mercury rules over 
the spleen, stomach, bladder, womb, and right ear, as 
also the faculty of the common sense. That Saturn 
rules over the liver and fleshy part of the stomach. 
That Jupiter rules over the abdomen and navel, whence 
it is written by the Ancients, that the effigy of a navel 
was laid up in the temple of Jupiter Hammon. Also 
some attribute to him the ribs, breast, bowels, blood, 
arms, and the right hand and left ear,. and the powers 
natural. And some set Mars over the blood, the veins, 
the kidneys, the bag of the gall, the buttocks, the 
back, motion of the sperm, and the irascible power. 
Again they set Venus over the kidneys, the secrets, 
the womb, the seed, and concupiscible power; as also 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 89 

the flesh, fat, belly, breast, navel, and the venereal 
parts and such as serve thereto; also the os sacrum, 
the back-bone, and loins; as also the head, and the 
mouth, with which they give a kiss as a token of love. 
Now the Moon, althoug-h she may challenge the whole 
body, and every member thereof according to the 
variety of the Signs, yet more particularly they 
ascribe to her the brain, lungs, marrow of the back- 
bone, the stomach, the menstrual and excretory parts, 
and the left eye, as also the power of increasing. But 
Hermes saith: That there are seven holes in the head 
of an animal, distributed to the seven Planets, viz. : 
The right ear to Saturn, the left to Jupiter, the right 
nostril to Mars, the left to Venus, the right eye to the 
Sun, the left to the Moon, and the mouth to Mercury. 

The several Signs, also, of the Zodiac take care of 
their members: So Aries governs the head and face; 
Taurus, the neck; Gemini, the arms and shoulders; 
Cancer, the breast, lungs, stomach and arms; Leo, the 
heart, stomach, liver and back; Virgo, the bowels and 
bottom of the stomach; Libra, the kidneys, thighs and 
buttocks; Scorpius, the secrets; Sagittarius, the thighs 
and groins; Capricornus, the knees; Aquarius, the legs 
and shins; Pisces, the feet.* And as the triplicities 
of these Signs answer one the other, and agree in 
celestials, so also they agree in the members; which is 
sufficiently manifest by experience, because with the 
coldness of the feet the belly and breast are affected, 
which members answer the same triplicity; whence it 
is, if a medicine be applied to the one it helps the 
other, as by the warming of the feet the pain of the 
belly ceaseth. Remember, therefore, this order, and 



*The several parts of the physical body, it will be seen, run in order 
from the head to the feet in their correspondence with the twelve Signs or 
Houses of 'the Zodiac, from Aries, the first house, to Pisces, the twelfth and 
last. The Zodiac, as a whole, in symbolizing all parts of a complete man. 
typifies a perfect celestial being known as the Grand Solar Man. 



90 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

know that things which ace under any one of the 
Planets have a certain particular aspect or inclination 
to those members that are attributed to that planet, 
and especially to the Houses and exaltations thereof. 
For the rest of the dignities, as those triplicities and 
marks and face, are of little account in this. Upon 
this account, therefore, peony, balm, clove-gilly- 
flowers, citron-peel, sweet-marjoram, cinnamon, saf- 
fron, lignum aloes, frankincense, amber, musk, and 
myrrh help the head and heart, by reason of the Sun 
and Aries and Leo. So doth ribwort, the herb of 
Mars, help the head and secrets by reason of Aries 
and Scorpio; and so of the rest. *Also all things 
under Saturn conduce to sadness and melancholy; 
those under Jupiter to mirth and honor; those under 
Mars to boldness, contention and anger; those under the 
Sun to glory, victory and courage; those under Venus 



*NoTE ON Punctuation: We find all semicolons used in this sentence 
in the English edition of 1651. Mr. Henry Morley, in his "Life of Cornelius 
Agrippa" (London, 1856), Vol. L, page 140, in a note referring to a quotation 
he makes there from the Latin edition of Agrippa of 1531, says: "I have 
preserved the punctuation in this passage to show the use of the colon 
"before semicolons were invented." The passage Mr. Morley quotes from 
the Latin edition of 1531 ("De Occulta Philosophia Lihri Tres," Antwerp, 
Belgium, one book only of which was published of the three) contains six 
colons, whereas the English edition of 1651 (see etching for title page), also 
used by Mr. Morley, and published complete one hundred and twenty years 
later, contains none. This indicates, apparently, the general period when 
semicolons were invented and came into use. The characters of punctua- 
tion are supposed to have been generally invented and introduced near the 
close of the fifteenth century by Aldus Manutus, a noted printer and pub- 
lisher of Venice. The semicolon, as above, originated later on, between 1531 
and 1651. Further, the m-dash, " — ," as now used, is of comparatively mod- 
ern introduction. I fail to find a single m-dash in the English edition of 

Agrippa of 1651, though 3-m-dashes, " ," were occasionally used before 

quotations from the poets. Eight years later, in 1659, 1 find the 2-m-dash 
used, in the second edition of Lilly's "Christian Astrology," page 60, thus: 

"His least 30." As this was an ordinary paragraph, of itself, it shows 

that they did not at that time use the m-dash but were evolving towards it. 
The truth regarding punctuation is that it has slowly and steadily evolved, 
especially since the art of printing, to its present status. The object of 
punctuation, primarily, is to present a writer's thought clearly, concisely, 
and correctly, by pointing out his salient words, using the " marks " like an 
artist does his " hues," to give prominence and pith thereto. 




GRAND SOLAR MAN. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 91 

to love, lust and concupiscence; those under Mercury 
to eloquence; those under the Moon to a common life. 
Also all the actions and dispositions of men are dis- 
tributed according- to the Planets; for Saturn governs 
old men, monks, melancholy men, and hidden treasures 
and those things which are obtained with long jour- 
neys and difficulty; but Jupiter governs those that are 
religious, prelates, kings and dukes, and such kind of 
gains that are got lawfully; Mars rules over barbers, 
chirurgeons, physicians, sergeants, butchers, execu- 
tioners, all that make fires, bakers, and soldiers, who 
are every where called martial men. Also do the 
other Stars signify their office, as they are described 
in the books of Astrologers. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

How we shall Know luliat Stars natural Things are Under, 
and what Things are Under the Sun^ which are called 
Solary. 

Now it is very hard to know what Star or Sign every 
thing is under; yet it is known through the imitation 
of their rays, or motion, or figure of the superiors. 
Also some of them are known by their colors and 
odors; also some by the effects of their operations, 
answering to some Stars. So, then, Solary things, or 
things under the power of the Sun, are, amongst Ele- 
ments, the lucid flame; in the humors, the purer blood 
and spirit of life; amongst tastes, that which is quick, 
mixed with sweetness; amongst metals, gold, by rea- 
son of its splendor, and its receiving that from the 
Sun which makes it cordial; and amongst stones, they 
which resemble the rays of the Sun by their golden 
sparklings, as doth the glittering stone aetites, which 
hath power against the falling sickness and poisons. 



92 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

So also the stone which is called the Eye of the Sun, 
being" of a figure like to the apple of the eye, from the 
middle whereof shines forth a ray; it comforts the 
brain and strengthens the sight. So the carbuncle, 
which shines by night, hath a virtue against all airy 
and vaporous poison. So the chrysolite stone, which 
is of a light green color, in which, when it is held 
against the Sun, there shines forth a golden star; and 
this comforts those parts that serve for breathing, and 
helps those that be asthmatical; and if it be bored 
through, and the hole filled with the mane of an ass, 
and bound to the left arm, it drives away idle imagi- 
nations and melancholy fears, and puts away foolish- 
ness. So the stone called iris, which is like crystal in 
color, being often found with six corners; when, under 
some roof, part of it is held against the rays of the Sun 
and the other part is held in the shadow, it gathers the 
rays of the Sun into itself, which, whilst it sends them 
forth, by way of reflection, makes a rainbow appear on 
the opposite wall. Also the stone heliotrope, green 
like the jasper or emerald, beset with red specks, 
makes a man constant, renowned and famous; also it 
conduceth to long life; and the virtue of it, indeed, is 
most wonderful upon the beams of the Sun, which it 
is said to turn into blood {i. e.), to appear of the color 
of blood, as if the Sun were eclipsed, viz., when it is 
joined to the juice of a herb of the same name, and be 
put into a vessel of water. There is also another vir- 
tue of it more wonderful, and that is upon the eyes of 
men, whose sight it doth so dim and dazzle that it doth 
not suffer him that carries it to see it, and this it doth 
not do without the help of the herb of the same name, 
which also is called heliotrope {i. e.), following the Sun. 
These virtues doth Albertus Magnus and William of 
Paris confirm in their writings. The stone hyacinth 
also hath a virtue from the Sun against poisons and 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 93 

pestiferous vapors; it makes him that carries it to be 
safe and acceptable; it conduceth also to riches and 
wit; it strengthens the heart; being- held in the mouth 
it doth wonderfully cheer up the mind. Also there is 
the stone pyrophylus, of a red mixture, which Alber- (X, 
tus Magnus saith ^sculapius makes mention of in one 
of his Epistles unto Octavius Augustus, saying that 
there is a certain poison so wonderfully cold, which 
preserves the heart of man (being taken oat) from 
burning, so that if for any time it be put into the fire 
it is turned into a stone, and this is that stone which 
is called pyrophylus, from the fire. It hath a wonder- 
ful virtue against poison, and it makes him that carries 
it to be renowned and dreadful to his enemies. But, 
above all, that stone is most Solary which Apollonius 
is reported to have found, and which is called pantaura, 
which draws other stones to it, as the loadstone doth 
iron, and is most powerful against all poisons. It is 
called by some pantherus, because it is spotted like 
the beast called the panther. It is therefore also 
called pantochras, because it contains all colors, and 
Aaron calls it evanthum. There are also other Solary 
stones, as the topazius, chrysopassus, the rubine, and 
balagius. So also is auripigmentum, and things of a 
golden color and very lucid. 

Amongst plants, also, and trees, those are Solary 
which turn towards, the Sun, as the marigold, and 
those which fold in their leaves when the Sun is near 
upon setting, but when it riseth unfold their leaves by 
little and little. The lote-tree also is solary, as is. 
manifest by the figure of the fruit and leaves. So is 
peony, sallendine, balm, ginger, gentian, and dittany; 
and vervain, which is of use in prophesying and expi- 
ations, as also driving away evil spirits. The bay-tree 
also is consecrated to Phoebus, so is the cedar, the 
palm-tree, the ash, the ivy and vine, and whatsoever 



\ 



94 



HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 



repel poisons and lightnings, and those things which 
never fear the extremities of the winter. Solary also 
are mint, mastic, zedoary, saffron, balsam, amber, 
musk, yellow honey, lignum aloes, cloves, cinnamon, 
calamus, aromaticus, pepper, frankincense, sweet-mar- 
joram, also libanotis, which Orpheus calls the sweet 

perfume of the Sun. 

Also amongst animals 
those are called Solary 
which are magnanimous, 
courageous, ambitious of 
victory and renown — as 
the lion, king of beasts; 
the crocodile, the spot- 
ted wolf, the ram, the 
boar; the bull, king of 
the herd, which was by 
the Egyptians at Heli- 
opolis dedicated to the 
Sun, which they called 
Verites; and an ox was 
consecrated to Apis in 
Memphis, and in Her- 
minthus a bull by the 
name of Pathis. The 
wolf, also, was conse- 
crated to Apollo and 
Latona. Also the beast called baboon is Solary, 
which twelve times in a day (viz., every hour) barks, 
and in time of ^quinoctium micturateth twelve times 
every hour; the same also it doth in the night, whence 
the Egyptians did engrave him upon their fountains.* 




CALAMUS (sweet -flag). 



*Mr. Morley notes here in reference to the "baboon that "Hermes Tris- 
megistus, or a writer in his name, taught that the common division of time 
was suggested to man hy the habits of this sacred animal." Life of Henry 
Cornelius Agrippa, Volume I., page 132. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 95 

Also, among"st birds, these are Solary: The phoenix, 
being but one of that kind; and the eagle, the queen of 
birds; also the vulture, the swan, and those which sing 
at the rising Sun and, as it were, call upon it to rise, 
as the cock and crow; also the hawk, which, because 
it, in the divinity of the Egyptians, is an emblem of 
the spirit and light, is by Porphyrins reckoned amongst 
the Solary birds. Moreover, all such things as have 
some resemblance of the works of the Sun, as worms 
shining in the night, and the beetle. Also, according 
to Appious' interpretation, such things whose eyes 
are changed according to the course of the Sun are 
accounted Solary; and things which come of them. 

And amongst fish, the sea-calf is chiefly Solary, who 
doth resist lightning; also shell-fish and the fish called 
Pulmo, both of which shinS in the night; and the fish 
called Stella,* for his parching heat; and the fish 
called strombi, t that follow their king; and margari,J; 
which also have a king, and, being dried, are hardened 
into a stone of a golden color. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

What Things are Lunary, or Under the Poiver of the Moon. 

These things are Lunary, amongst the Elements, 
viz. : The earth, then the water, as well that of the 
sea as of the rivers; and all moist things, as the 
moisture of trees and animals, especially they which 
are white, as the whites of eggs, fat, sw^eat, phlegm, 
and the superfluities of bodies. Amongst tastes, salt 



* Stella— a star— Star-fish ; the Asterias or sea-star. One peculiarity of 
this radiate animal is that so long as it has any one of its usual five points 
remaining, it will restore any others that may have been destroyed. 

t strombi— Strombite. A mullosk, of the genus Strombus, possessing 
a spiral shell with a broad, wing-like lip. Ordinarily known as a sea-snail. 

JMargari— Margarite— Margaritaceas. Pearl-fish; the pearl oyster. 



96 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

and insipid; amongst metals, silver; amongst stones, 
crystal, the silver marcasite, and all those stones that 
are white and green. Also the stone selenite {i. e. , the 
Moon, Lunary), shining from a white body, with a yel- 
low brightness; imitating the motion of the Moon, 
by having in it the figure of the Moon, which daily 
increaseth or decreaseth as doth the Moon. Also 
pearls, which are generated in shells of fishes, and 
stalactites, formed from the droppings of water; also 
the beryl, or aqua-marine, greenish and six-sided. 

Amongst plants and trees, these are Lunary, as the 
selenotropion, which turns towards the Moon as doth 
the heliotropion towards the Sun; and the palm-tree, 
which sends forth a bough at every rising of the new 
Moon. Hyssop, also, and rosemary, agnus castus, and 
the olive-tree, are Lunary. Also the herb chinosta, 
which increaseth and decreaseth with the Moon, viz., 
in substance and number of leaves, not only in sap 
but in virtue — which, indeed, is in some sort common 
to all plants, except onions, which last are under the 
influence of Mars, and have contrary properties. 

As amongst flying things the Saturnine bird called 
a quail is a great enemy to the Moon and Sun, Lunary 
animals are such as delight to be in man's company, 
and such as do naturally excel in love or hatred, as all 
kinds of dogs. The chameleon also is Lunary, which 
always assumes a color according to the variety of the 
color of the object — as the Moon changeth her nature 
according to the variety of the Sign which it is found 
in. Lunary also are swine, hinds, goats, and all those 
animals, whatsoever, that observe and imitate the 
motion of the Moon, as the baboon, and the panther, 
which is said to have a spot upon her shoulder like the 
Moon, increasing into a roundness, and having horns 
that bend inwards. Cats also are Lunary, whose eyes 
become greater or less according to the course of the 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 97 

Moon; and those things which are of like nature, as 
catamenial blood, of which are made wonderful and 
strang-e things by magicians. The civet cat, also, 
changing her sex with the Moon, being obnoxious to 
divers sorceries; and all animals that live in water as 
well as on land, as otters, and such as prey upon fish. 
Also all monstrous beasts, such as without any mani- 
fest seed are equivocally generated, as mice, which 
sometimes seem to be generated of the putrefaction of 
the earth. Amongst fowl, geese, ducks, didappers, 
and all kind of watery fowl as prey upon fish, as the 
heron, and those that are equivocally produced, as 
wasps of the carcasses of horses, bees of the putre- 
faction of cows, small flies of putrefied wine, and bee- 
tles of the flesh of asses. But most Lunary of all is 
the two-horned beetle, horned after the manner of a 
bull, which digs under cow-dung and there remains 
for the space of twenty-eight days (in which time the 
Moon measures the whole Zodiac), and in the twenty- 
ninth day, when it thinks there will be a conjunction 
of their brightness, it opens the dung and casts it into 
water, from whence then come beetles. 

Amongst fish, these are Lunary: jElurus, whose 
eyes are changed according to the course of the Moon, 
and whatsoever observes the motion of the Moon, as the 
tortoise, the echeneis, crabs, oysters, cockles and frogs. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

What Things are Saturnine, or Under the Poiver of Saturn. 

Saturnine things, amongst Elements, are earth and 
also water; amongst humors, black choler that is moist, 
as well natural as adventitious (adiist choler excepted). 
Amongst tastes, sour, tart, and dead-like. Amongst 
metals, lead, and gold, by reason of its weight, and 
tke golden marcasite. Amongst stones, the onyx, the 



98 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

ziazaa, the camonius, the sapphire, the brown jasper, 
the chalcedon, the loadstone, and all dark, weighty, 
earthy things. Amongst plants and trees, the daffo- 
dil, dragon's- wort, rue, cummin, hellebore, the tree 
from whence benzoin comes, mandrake, opium, and 
those things which are never sov/n, and never bear 
fruit, and those which bring forth berries of a dark 
color and black fruit, as the black fig-tree, the pine- 
tree, the cypress-tree, and a certain tree used at buri- 
als, which never springs afresh with berries, rough, of 
a bitter taste, of a strong smell, of a black shadow, 
yielding a most sharp pitch, bearing a most unprofit- 
able fruit, never dies with age, deadly, and dedicated 
to Pluto. As is the herb pas-flower,* with which they 



*Pas, from the latin word "passus," meaning step, pace, or "right of 
going foremost; precedence." Thus the pas-flower means a plant blooming 
ahead of other flowers. A co-ordinate word is " pascha," meaning to " pass 
over," giving the name " Passover," or the feast of Easter. " Pasch " comes 
from and means the same as " pascha," and we read of the "pasch " egg, 
stained and given to children at Easter, as also of the " pasch " flower of 
Easter. The Easter flower was also known as the Pash-flower, Paschal- 
flower, and Pasque-flower — "pash" and " pasque " meaning Easter, and 
" paschal " pertaining thereto. This indicates that the pas-flower in the 
above text is identical with the pasque-flower, of the genus Anemone, hav- 
ing large purple flowers, which usually bloom about Easter, stepping fore- 
most in their order of blooming as regarding other flowers. Agrippa also 
makes mention here of the pas-flower as being an emblem of mourning as 
the ancients used it to " strow the graves before they put the dead bodies 
into them." While the ancients may have held the pas-flower as sacred to 
the rites of burial, the sense of its use as the Easter flower would indicate 
that it was also used as an emblem of great joy, and signified a new life 
for the departed through a new birth or resurrection. A true understand- 
ing of the meaning of the feast of the Passover or Easter will show this: 
Easter-day is always the first Sunday after the fourteenth day of the calen- 
dar moon which comes upon or next after the 21st of March; so that if the 
fourteenth day comes on a Sunday, Easter-day will be the Sunday after. 
Easter corresponds to the Passover of the Jews, and ".most nations still give 
it this name under the various forms of pascha, pasque, paque, or pask." 
The feast of the Passover was instituted by the Jews " to commemorate the 
providential escape of the Hebrews, in Egypt, when God, smiting the first- 
born of the Egyptians, passed over the houses of the Israelites, which were 
marked with the blood of the paschal lamb." With the Christian church 
it is observed to commemorate the "resurrection of Christ." The Old 
High Germans celebrated the day in honor of Ostara, the goddess of light 
or SPRING, whence they called April (the month of or following Easter) 
Ostarmanoth. The Anglo-Saxons called the same month, Eastermonadh, 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. . 99 

were wont, anciently, to strow the graves before they 
put the dead bodies into them; wherefore it was law- 
ful to make their garlands at feasts with all herbs and 
flowers besides pas-flowers, because it was mournful 
and not conducing to mirth. Also all creeping ani- 
mals, living apart, and solitary, nightly, sad, contem- 
plative, dull, covetous, fearful, melancholy, that take 
much pains, slow, that feed grossly, and such as eat 
their young. Of these kinds, therefore, are the mole, 
the wolf, the ass, the toad, the cat, the hog, the bear, 
the camel, the basilisk, the hare, the ape, the dragon, 
the mule, all serpents and creeping things, scorpions, 
ants, and such things as proceed from putrefaction in 
the earth, in water, or in the ruins of houses, as mice 



from Eastre, their name for the same goddess, and their paschal feast, 
Eastran or Easter. March was named from Mars, the god of war, and was 
originally the first month of the j'^ear as it was in March that the Sun came 
to Aries, the first House of the Zodiac, emblemized by the lamb, as the ram 
was the first animal to forage for food and procreate ; and the Sun entering 
the first House was the vernal equinox, or the first day of spring, the first 
season of the fruitful year, and therefore March, being the advent month 
of light and fecundity, was esteemed as the first month of the year. The 
first full month of light and spring, when every fetter of winter was riven 
and spring was opened wide and fixed, was April, from aperio, to open; and 
also from the Greek word, aphros— foam— from which Venus was said to 
have sprung, and hence this month was sacred to her; no doubt Ostara and 
Eastre were identical with her. As Easter-day falls the first Sunday after 
the fourteenth day of the calendar moon which comes upon or next after 
the 21st of March, Easter-day usually comes in April and dates its arrival 
from the aspect of the Moon to the arbitrary date of March 21. This is a 
very significant fact and is fully confirmed as such when we find that the 
21st of March is the usually precise date when the Earth, in its annual move- 
ment around the Sun, enters Libra, causing the Sun to apparently enter the 
opposite House or Sign of Aries, ending winter and ushering in spring, for 
the first day of spring always comes when the Sun enters Aries. Aries is 
the House of the lamb, and with the birth of spring the lamb is resurrected 
or brought to life anew, while winter is dead, the Sun having passed over 
the meridian line between winter and spring. Further, the word Easter 
corresponds with Aries, for it springs from the word East, and Aries is the 
Eastern part of the Zodiac. Therefore March 21st is the true Eastern-day, 
but the celebration of the return of spring is fitly deferred until the first 
Sun-day after about a lunar cycle, so as to partake of the first fruits of the 
spring season. In view of the foregoing, therefore, the ancients used the 
pas-flower at the grave as an emblem of the passing over of the winter of 
old age and the resurrection of the spirit to eternal light and immortal 
youth. Used as such the pas-flower or pasque-flower typified joy and hope. 



100 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

and many sorts of vermin. Amongst birds, those are 
Saturnine which have long- necks and harsh voices, as 
cranes, ostriches, and peacocks, which are dedicated to 
Saturn and Juno. Also the screech-owl, the horned- 
owl, the bat, the lapwing, the crow, the quail, which 
is the most envious bird of all. Amongst fishes, the 
eel, living apart from all other fish; the lamprey, the 
dog-fish, which devours her young; also the tortoise, 
oysters, cockles, to which may be added sea-sponges 
and all such things as come of them. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

What Things are Under the Power of Jupiter, and are 

called Jovial. 

Things under Jupiter, amongst Elements, are the air; 
amongst humors, blood and the Spirit of Life; also all 
things which respect the increase, nourishment, and 
vegetation of the life. Amongst tastes, such as are 
sweet and pleasant. Amongst metals, tin, silver and 
gold, by reason of their temperateness. Amongst 
stones, the hyacinth, beryl, sapphire, emerald, green 
jasper, and those of airy colors. Amongst plants and 
trees, sea-green, garden basil, bugloss, mace, spike, 
mint, mastic, elecampane, the violet, darnel, henbane, 
the poplar-tree, and those which are called lucky trees, 
as the oak, the sesculus, or horse-chestnut, which is 
like an oak but much larger; the holm or holly-tree, 
the beech-tree, the hazel-tree, the service-tree, the 
white fig-tree, the pear-tree, the apple-tree, the vine, 
the plum-tree, the ash, the dogwood tree, and the 
olive-tree, and also oil-tree. Also all manner of corn, 
as barley and wheat; also raisins, licorice, sugar, and 
all such things whose sweetness is manifest and sub- 
tile, partaking somewhat of an astringent and sharp 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 101 

taste, as are nuts, almonds, pine-apples, filberts, pista- 
chio-nuts, roots of peony, myrobalan, rhubarb, and 
manna; Orpheus adds storax. Amongst animals, such 
as have some stateliness and wisdom in them, and 
those which are mild, well trained up, and of good 
dispositions, as the hart and elephant; and those which 
are gentle, as sheep and lambs. Amongst birds, those 
that are of a temperate complexion, as hens, together 
with the yolk of their eggs. Also the partridge, the 
pheasant, the swallow, the cuckoo, and the stork and 
pelican, birds given to a kind of devotion, which are 
emblems of gratitude. The eagle is dedicated to 
Jupiter — she is the ensign of emperors, and an emblem 
of Justice and Clemency. Amongst fish, the dolphin, 
the fish called anchia or anchovy; and the sheath or 
sheat-fish, by reason of his devoutness. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

What Things are Under the Power of Mars, and are called 

Martial. 

These things are Martial: Amongst Elements, fire, 
together with all adust and sharp things. Amongst 
humors, choler; also bitter tastes, tart and burning the 
tongue, and causing tears. Amongst metals, iron and 
red brass; and all fiery, red, and sulphureous things. 
Amongst stones, the diamond, loadstone, the blood- 
stone, the jasper, the stone that consists of divers 
kinds, and the amethyst. Amongst plants and trees, 
hellebore, garlic, euphorbium, castanea, ammoniac, 
radish, the laurel or sweet-bay, wolf's-bane, scam- 
mony; and all such as are poisonous, by reason of too 
much heat, and those which are beset round about 
with prickles, or, by touching the skin, burn it, prick 
it, or make it swell, as cardis, the nettle, crow-foot; 



102 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

and such as, being eaten, cause tears, as onions, asco- 
lonia, leeks, mustard-seed, and all thorny trees; and 
the dogwood-tree, which is dedicated to Mars. And 
all such animals as are warlike, ravenous, bold, and of 
clear fancy, as the horse, mule, goat, kid, wolf, leop- 
ard, and wild ass. Serpents, also, and dragons, full of 
displeasure and poison. Also all such as are offensive 
to men, as gnats, flies, and the baboon, by reason of 
his anger. All birds that are ravenous, devour flesh, 
and break bones, as the eagle, the falcon, the hawk, 
and the vulture; and those which are called the fatal 
birds, as the horn-owl, the screech-owl, castrels, and 
kites; and such as are hungry and ravenous, and such 
as make a noise in their swallowing, as crows, daws, 
and the pie, which, above all the rest, is dedicated to 
Mars. And amongst fishes, the pike, the barbel, the 
fork-fish, the fish that hath horns like a ram, the stur- 
geon, and the glacus, all which are great devourers 
and ravenous. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

What Things are Under the Poiver of Venus, and are called 

Venereal. 

These things are under Venus: Amongst Elements, 
air and water. Amongst humors, phlegm, with blood, 
spirit, and seed. Amongst tastes, those which are 
sweet, unctuous, and delectable. Amongst metals, 
silver, and brass, both yellow and red. Amongst 
stones, the beryl, chrysolite, emerald, sapphire, green 
jasper, carnelian, the stone aetites, the lazuli stone, 
coral, and all of a fair, various, white, and green color. 
Amongst plants and trees, the vervain, violet, maiden- 
hair; valerian, which by the Arabians is called phu! 
and tithymal, for its fragrant and sweet smell; also 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. . 103 

thyme, the gum ladanum, amber-gris, sanders or red 
sandal-wood, coriander, and all sweet perfumes; and 
delightful and sweet fruits, as sweet pears, figs, pome- 
granates, which, the poets say, were, in Cyprus, first 
sown by Venus. Also the Rose of Lucifer was dedi- 
cated to her; also the Myrtle-tree of Hesperus. More- 
over, all luxurious, delicious animals, and of a strong 
love, as dogs, conies, odorous sheep and goats, both 
female and male, which generate sooner than any other 
animal; also the bull, for his disdain, and the calf, for 
his wantonness. Amongst birds, the swan, the wag- 
tail, the swallow, the pelican, the bergander, which 
are very loving to their young. Also the crow, and 
the pigeon, which is dedicated to Venus; and the 
turtle-dove, one whereof was commanded to be offered 
at the purification, after bringing forth. The sparrow 
also was dedicated to Venus, which was commanded in 
the law to be used in the purification, after the lep- 
rosy, a martial disease, than which nothing was of 
more force to resist it. Also, the Egyptians called 
the Eagle by the name of Venus, because she never 
fails to answer the call of her mate. Amongst fishes, 
these are venereal: The lustful pilchard, the lecher- 
ous gilt-head, the whiting, for her love to her young, 
and the crab, fighting for his mate. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

What Things are Under the Power of Mercury, and are 

called Mercurial. 

Things under Mercury are these: Amongst Ele- 
ments, water, though it moves all things indistinctly. 
Amongst humors, those especially which are mixed, 
as also the animal spirit. Amongst tastes, those that 
are various, strange, and mixed. Amongst metals, 



104 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

quick-silver, tin, and the silver marcasite. Amongst 
stones, the emerald, achate or agate, red marble, and 
topaz, and those which are of divers colors and vari- 
ous figures naturally; and those that are artificial, as 
glass; and those which have a color mixed with green 
and yellow. Amongst plants and trees, the hazel, 
five-leaved grass, the herb mercury, fumitory, pimper- 
nel, marjoram, parsley, and such as have shorter and 
less leaves, being compounded of mixed natures and 
divers colors. Animals, also, that are of quick sense, 
ingenious, strong, inconstant, and swift; and such as 
become easily acquainted with men, as dogs, weasels, 
apes, foxes, the hart and mule; and all animals that 
are of both sexes, and those which can change their 
sex, as the hare, civet cat, and such like. Amongst 
birds, those which are naturally witty, melodious and 
inconstant, as the linnet, nightingale, blackbird, lark, 
thrush, the gnat-snapper, the bird calandra, the par- 
rot, the pie, the bird ibis, the bird porphyrio, the black 
beetle with one horn, and the sea-bird trochilus, which 
goes into the crocodile's mouth for its food. Amongst 
fishes, the fish called pourcontrel, for deceitfulness 
and changeableness; the fork-fish for its industry, and 
the mullet, also, that shakes off the bait on the hook 
with his tail. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

That the Whole Sublunary World, and those Things which 
are in It, are Distributed to Planets. 

Moreover, whatsoever is found in the whole world 
is made according to the governments of the Planets, 
and accordingly receives its virtue. So in fire, the 
enlivening light thereof is under the government of 
the Sun; the heat of it under Mars, in the Earth; the 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 105 

various superficies thereof under the Moon and Mer- 
cury, and the starry heaven; the whole mass of it 
under Saturn. But in the middle Elements, air is 
under Jupiter, and water under the Moon; but being 
mixed, are under Mercury and Venus. In like manner 
natural active causes observe the Sun, the matter the 
Moon, the fruitfulness of active causes, Jupiter; the 
fruitfulness of the matter, Venus; the sudden effecting" 
of any thing. Mars; and Mercury, that for his vehe- 
mency, this for his dexterity and manifold virtue. 
But the permanent continuation of all things is 
ascribed to Saturn. Also, amongst vegetables, every 
thing that bears fruit is from Jupiter, and every thing 
that bears flowers is from Venus; all seed and bark is 
from Mercury, and all roots from Saturn, and all wood 
from Mars, and leaves from the Moon. Wherefore, all 
that bring forth fruit, and not flowers, are of Saturn 
and Jupiter; but they that bring forth flowers and 
seed, and not fruit, are of Venus and Mercury; those 
which are brought forth of their own accord, without 
seed, are of the Moon and Saturn. All beauty is from 
Venus, all strength from Mars, and every planet rules 
and disposeth that which is like to it. Also in stones, 
their weight, clamminess and slipticness is of Saturn, 
their use and temperament of Jupiter, their hardness 
from Mars, their life from the Sun, their beauty and 
fairness from Venus, their occult virtue from Mercury, 
and their common use from the Moon. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

How Provinces and Kingdoms are Distributed to Planets. 

Moreover, the whole orb of the earth is distributed 
by kingdoms and provinces to the Planets and Signs: 
For Macedonia, Thracia, Illyria, Arriana, Gordiana, 



106 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

India, many of which countries are in the lesser Asia, 
are under Saturn with Capricornus; but with Aquarius 
under him are the Sauromatian Country, Oxiana, Sog- 
diana, Arabia, Phazania, Media and ^thipoia, which 
countries, for the most part, belong to the more inward 
Asia. Under Jupiter, with Sagittarius, are Tuscana, 
Celtica, Spaine, and happy Arabia; and under him, 
with Pisces, are Lycia, Lydia, Cilicia, Pamphylia, 
Paphlagonia, Nasamonia, and Lybia. Mars, with 
Aries, governs Britany, France, Germany, Bastarnia, 
the lower parts of Syria, Idumea, and Judea; with 
Scorpio, he rules Syria, Comagena, Cappadocia, Meta- 
gonium, Mauritania, and Getulia. The Sun, with Leo, 
governs Italy, Apulia, Sicilia, Phenicia, Chaldea, and 
the Orchenians. Venus, with Taurus, governs the 
Isles Cyclades, the seas of little Asia, Cyprus, Parthia, 
Media, Persia; but, with Libra, she commands the 
people of the Island Bractia, of Caspia, of Seres, of 
Thebais, of Oasis, and of Troglodys. Mercury, with 
Gemini, rules Hircania, Armenia, Mantiana, Cyrenaica, 
Marmarica, and the lower Egypt; but, with Virgo, he 
rules Greece, Achaia, Creta, Babylon, Mesopotamia, 
Assyria, and Ela, whence they of that place are in 
Scripture called Elamites. The Moon, with Cancer, 
governs Bithivia, Phrygia, Colchica, Numidia, Africa, 
Carthage, and all Carchedonia. 

These we have, in this manner, gathered from Ptol- 
emy's opinion, to which, according to the writings of 
other astrologers, many more may be added. But he 
who knows how to compare these divisions of prov- 
inces according to the Divisions of the Stars, with the 
Ministry of the Ruling Intelligences, and Blessings of 
the Tribes of Israel, the Lots of the Apostles, and 
Typical Seals of the Sacred Scripture, shall be able 
to obtain great and prophetical oracles, concerning 
every region, of things to come. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC 107 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

What Things are Under the Signs, the Fixed Stars, and 

their Images. 

The like consideration is to be had in all things 
concerning' the Figures of the Fixed Stars: Therefore 
they will have the terrestrial ram to be under the rule 
of the celestial Aries, and the terrestrial bull and ox 
to be under the celestial Taurus. So also that Cancer 
should rule over crabs, and Leo over lions; Virgo over 
virgins, and Scorpio over scorpions; Capricornus over 
goats, Sagittarius over horses, and Pisces over fishes. 
Also the celestial Ursa over bears, the Hydra over ser- 
pents, and the Dog Star over dogs, and so of the rest. 
Now, Apuleius distributes certain and peculiar herbs 
to the Signs and Planets, viz. : To Aries, the herb 
sage; to Taurus, the vervain that grows straight; to 
Gemini, the vervain that grows bending; to Cancer, 
comfrey; to Leo, sow-bread; to Virgo, calamint; to 
Libra, mug-wort; to Scorpio, scorpion-grass; to Sagit- 
tarius, pimpernel; to Capricornus, the dock; to Aqua- 
rius, dragon's-wort; to Pisces, hart-wort. And to the 
Planets these, viz.: To Saturn, sengreen; to Jupiter, 
agrimony; to Mars, sulphur-wort; to the Sun, mari- 
gold; to Venus, wound- wort; to Mercury, mullein; to 
the Moon, peony. But Hermes, whom Albertus fol- 
lows, distributes to the Planets these, viz. : To Saturn, 
the daffodil; to Jupiter, henbane; to Mars, rib- wort; to 
the Sun, knot-grass; to Venus, vervain; to Mercury, 
cinque-foil; to the Moon, goose-foot. We also know 
by experience that asparagus is under Aries, and gar- 
den basil under Scorpio; for of the shavings of ram's- 
horn, sowed, comes forth asparagus; and garden 
basil, rubbed betwixt two stones, produceth scorpions. 
Moreover, I will, according to the doctrine of Hermes, 
and of Thebit, reckon up some of the more eminent 

8 



108 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Stars, whereof the first is called the Head of Algol, 
and, amongst stones, rules over the diamond; amongst 
plants, black hellebore and mug-wort. The second 
are the Pleiades, or Seven Stars, which, amongst 
stones, rule over crystal and the stone diodocus; 
amongst plants, the herb diacedon, and frankincense 
and fennel; and amongst metals, quicksilver. The 
third is the star Aldeboran, which hath under it, 
amongst stones, the carbuncle and ruby; amongst 
plants, the milky thistle and matry-silva. The fourth 
is called the Goat Star, which rules, amongst stones, 
the sapphire; amongst plants, horehound, mint, mug- 
wort and mandrake. The fifth is called the great Dog 
Star, which, amongst stones, rules over the beryl; 
amongst plants, savin, mug-wort and dragon's-wort; 
and, amongst animals, the forked tongue of a snake. 
The sixth is called the lesser Dog Star, and, amongst 
stones, rules over achate or agate; amongst plants, the 
flowers of marigold and pennyroyal. The seventh is 
called the Heart of the Lyon, which, amongst stones, 
rules over the granate or garnet; amongst plants, sal- 
lendine, mug-wort and mastic. The eighth is the Taile 
of the lesser Bear, which, amongst stones, rules over 
the loadstone; amongst herbs, over succory or chicory, 
whose leaves and flowers turn towards the north; also 
mug- wort and the flowers of periwinkle; and, amongst 
animals, the tooth of a wolf. The ninth is called the 
Wing of the Crow, under which, amongst stones, are 
such stones as are of the color of the black onyx stone; 
amongst plants, the bur, quadraginus, henbane and 
comfrey; and, amongst animals, the tongue of a frog. 
The tenth is called Spica, which hath under it, amongst 
stones, the emerald; amongst plants, sage, trifoil, peri- 
winkle, mug-wort and mandrake. The eleventh is 
called Alchamech, which, amongst stones, rules over 
the jasper; amongst plants, the plantain. The twelfth 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 109 

is called Elpheia; under this, amongst stones, is the 
topaz; amongst plants, rosemary, trifoil and ivy. The 
thirteenth is called the Heart of the Scorpion, under 
which, amongst stones, is the sardonius and amethyst; 
amongst plants, long aristolochy and saffron. The 
fourteenth is the Falling Vultur, under which, amongst 
stones, is the chrysolite; amongst plants, succory and 
fumitory. The fifteenth is the Taile of Capricorn, 
under which, amongst stones, is chalcedony; amongst 
plants, marjoram, mug-wort and catnip, and the root 
of mandrake. 

Moreover, this we must know, that every stone or 
plant or animal, or any other thing, is not governed 
by one star alone, but many of them receive influence, 
not separated, but conjoined, from many stars. So 
amongst stones, the chalcedon is under Saturn and 
Mercury, together with the Taile of Scorpion, and 
Capricorn. The sapphire, under Jupiter, Saturn and 
the star Alhajoth; tutia is under Jupiter and the Sun 
and Moon; the emerald, under Jupiter, Venus and 
Mercury and the star Spica. The amethyst, as saith 
Hermes, is under Mars, Jupiter and the Heart of the 
Scorpion. The jasper, which is of divers kinds, is 
under Mars, Jupiter and the star Alchamech. The 
chrysolite is under the Sun, Venus and Mercury, as 
also under the star which is called the Falling Vultur. 
The topaz, under the Sun and the star Elpheia; the 
diamond, under Mars and the Head of Algol. In like 
manner, amongst vegetables, the herb dragon is under 
Saturn and the celestial Dragon; mastic and mint are 
under Jupiter and the Sun, but mastic is also under 
the Heart of the Lyon, and mint, under the Goat Star. 
Hellebore is dedicated to Mars and the Head of Algol; 
moss and sanders to the Sun and Venus; coriander to 
Venus and Saturn. Amongst animals, the sea calf is 
under the Sun and Jupiter; the fox and ape, under 



110 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Saturn and Mercury; and domestical dogs under Mer- 
cury and the Moon. And thus we have shewed more 
things in these inferiors by their superiors.* 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Of the Seals and Characters of Natural Things. 

All Stars have their peculiar natures, properties, 
and conditions, the Seals and Characters whereof 
they produce, through their rays, even in these infe- 
rior things, viz., in elements, in stones, in plants, in 
animals, and their members; whence every natural 
thing receives, from a harmonious disposition and from 
its star shining upon it, some particular Seal, or char- 
acter, stamped upon it; which Seal of character is the 
significator of that star, or harmonious disposition, 
containing in it a peculiar Virtue, differing from other 
virtues of the same matter, both generically, specific- 
ally, and numerically. Every thing, therefore, hath 
its character pressed upon it by its star for some par- 
ticular effect, especially by that star which doth prin- 
cipally govern it. \ And these Characters contain and 
retain in them the peculiar Natures, Virtues, and 
Roots of their Stars, and produce the like operations 
upon other things, on which they are reflected, and 
stir up and help the influences of their Stars, whether 
they be Planets, or fixed Stars, or Figures, or celestial 
Signs, f] viz., as oft as they shall be made in a fit 



* Agrippa's historian, Mr. Henry Morley, says: " Here ends the detail of 
the theory of Nature, upon which were based, so far as concerned natural 
things, the arts of sorcery and divination. From theory to practice, there- 
fore, the young student passes."— "Life of Cornelius Agrippa," Vol. I., p. 136. 

tThe Heavens in general are mapped out into clusters and combinations 
of stars, known as "constellations," and to each constellation the ancients 
gave a certain " figure," the name of which also named the constellation, as 
Capricornus (from "caper," goat, and "cornu," horn) is given the figure of 
a goat (one horn starry) ; and this constellation, by being one of the twelve 
constellations of the Zodiac, is further known as one of the twelve " Signs." 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. Ill 

matter, and in their due and accustomed times. Which 
ancient Wise Men considering- — such as labored much 
in the finding out of the occult properties of things — 
did set down in writing the Images of the Stars, their 
Figures, Seals, Marks, Characters, such as Nature 
herself did describe, by the rays of the Stars, in these 
inferior bodies — some in stones, some in plants, and 
joints and knots of boughs, and some in divers mem- 
bers of animals. (For the bay-tree, the lote-tree, and 
the marigold are Solary Plants, and in their roots and 
knots, being cut off, shew the Characters of the SunJ 
So also in the bones and shoulder-blades in animals; ' 
whence there arose a spatulary kind of divining {i. e.) 
by the shoulder-blades; .and in stones and stony things 
the Characters and! Im'ages of celestial things are often 
found. But seeing that in so great a diversity of things 
there is not a traditional knowledge, only in a few 
things, which human understanding is able to reach: 
Therefore, leaving those things which are to be found 
out in plants and stones, and other things, as also in 
the members of divers animals, we shall limit our- 
selves to man's nature only, which, seeing it is the 
most complete Image of the ivhole Universe, containing 
in itself the whole heavenly harmony, w^ill, without 
all doubt, abundantly afford us the Seals and Charac- 
ters of all the Stars and Celestial Influences, and 
those, as the more efficacious, which are less differing 
from the celestial nature. But as the number of the 
Stars is known to God alone, so also their effects and 
Seals upon these inferior things, wherefore no human 
intellect is able to attain to the knowledge of them. 
Whence very few of those things became known to 
us which the ancient philosophers and chiromancers 
attained to, partly by reason and partly by experience; 
and there be many things yet lying hid in the treasury 
of Nature. We shall here, in this place, note some 



112 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

few Seals and Characters of the Planets, such as the 
ancient chiromancers knew of, in the hands of men. 
These doth Julian call Sacred and Divine Letters, 
seeing that by them, according to the holy Scripture, 
is the life of men writ in their hands. And there are 
in all nations of all languages always the same and 
like to them, and permanent; to which were added and 
found out afterwards many more; as by the ancient, 
so by latter chiromancers. And they that would know 
them must have recourse to their volumes. It is suffi- 
cient here to shew from whence the Characters of 
Nature have their original source, and in what things 
they are to be enquired after.* 



*Mr. Morley, on page 138 of his work, gives " successively, line under line, 
the divine letters of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, the Sun, and the 
Moon," which may he compared with the figures made from the 1651 edition: 



dfiC 



c'C ^ ^a &-uA«NMi> 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL. MAGIC. 113 

HERE FOLLOW THE FIGURES OF DIVINE LETTERS: 

The Letters or Characters of Saturn. 
The Letters or Characters of Jupiter. 

The Letters or Characters of Mars. 

The Letters or Characters of the Sun. 

The Letters or Characters of Venus. 

The Letters or Characters of Mercury. 

The Letters or Characters of the Moon. 

3C §=^^ '^-^^^'Ntv^ 



114 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

How, by Natural Things and their Virtues, We may Draw 
Forth and Attract the Influences and Virtues of Celestial 
Bodies. 

Now, if thou desirest to receive virtue from any 
part of the World, or from any Star, thou shalt (those 
things being used which belong to this Star) come 
under its peculiar influence, as wood is fit to receive 
flame by reason of sulphur, pitch and oil. Neverthe- 
less, when thou dost to any one species of things, or 
individual, rightly apply many things (which are 
things of the same subject, scattered, amongst them- 
selves, conformable to the same Idea and Star), pres- 
ently, by this matter so opportunely fitted, a singular 
gift is infused by the Idea, by means of the Soul of the 
World. I say " opportunely fitted," viz., under a har- 
mony, like to the harmony which did infuse a certain 
virtue into the matter. For although things have 
some virtues, such as we speak of, yet those virtues 
do so lie hid that there is seldom any effect produced 
by them. But, as in a grain of mustard-seed, bruised, 
the sharpness which lay hid is stirred up; and as the 
heat of the fire doth make letters apparent to the 
sight which before could not be read, being writ with 
the juice of an onion, or with milk; and as letters 
wrote upon a stone with the fat of a goat, and alto- 
gether unperceived, when the stone is put into vinegar 
appear and shew themselves; and as a blow with a 
stick stirs up the madness of a dog which before lay 
asleep — so doth the Celestial Harmony disclose vir- 
tues lying in the water; stirs them up, strengtheneth 
them, and makes them manifest; and, as I may so say, 
produceth that into Act which before was only in 
Power, when things are rightly exposed to it in a Celes- 
tial Season. As for example: If thou dost desire to 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 115 

attract virtue from the Sun, and to seek those things 
that are Solary, amongst vegetables, plants, metals, 
stones, and animals, those things are to be used and 
taken chiefly which in a Solary order are higher. For 
these are more available. So thou shalt draw a sin- 
gular gift from the Sun, through the beams thereof, 
being seasonably received together, and through the 
Spirit of the World. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 

Of the Mixtions of Natural Things^ one with another, and 

their Benefit. 

It is most evident that in the inferior nature all the 
powers of superior bodies are not found comprehended 
in any one thing, but are dispersed through many 
kinds of things amongst us; as there are many Solary 
things, whereof every one doth not contain all the 
virtues of the Sun; but some have some properties 
from the Sun, and others othersome. Wherefore, it is 
sometimes necessary that there be mixtions in opera- 
tions, that if a hundred or a thousand virtues of the 
Sun were dispersed through so many plants, animals, 
and the like, we may gather all these together, and 
bring them into one form, in which we shall see all 
the said virtues, being united, contained. Now, there 
is a twofold virtue in commixtion; one, viz., which was 
first planted in its parts, and is celestial; the other is 
obtained by a certain and artificial mixtion of things, 
mixt amongst themselves, and of the mixtions of them 
according to certain proportions, such as agree with 
the heaven, under a certain constellation. And this 
virtue descends by a certain likeness and aptness that 
is in things, amongst themselves, towards their supe- 
riors, and just as much as the following things do by 



116 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

degrees correspond with them that go before, where 
the patient is fitly applied to its superior agent. So 
from a certain composition of herbs, vapors, and such 
like, made according to the principles of natural phi- 
losophy and astronomy, there results a certain com- 
mon form, endowed with many gifts of the Stars, as, 
in the honey of bees, that which is gathered out of 
the juice of innumerable flowers and brought into one 
form, contains the virtue of all, by a kind of divine 
and admirable art of the bees. Yet this is not to be 
less wondered at, which Eudoxus Giudius reports, of 
an artificial kind of honey which a certain Nation of 
Giants in Lybia knew how to make out of flowers, and 
that very good and not far inferior to that of the bees. 
For every mixtion, which consists of many several 
things, is then most perfect when it is so firmly com- 
pacted in all parts that it becomes one, is every where 
firm to itself, and can hardly be dissipated — as we 
sometimes see stones and divers bodies to be, by a cer- 
tain natural power, so conglutinated and united that 
they seem to be wholly one thing; as we see two trees, 
by grafting, to become one; also oysters with stones, 
by a certain occult virtue of Nature; and there have 
been seen some animals which have been turned into 
stones, and so united with the substance of the stone 
that they seem to make one body, and that also homo- 
geneous; so the tree ebony is one while wood and 
another while stone. When, therefore, any one makes 
a mixtion of many matters under the celestial influ- 
ences, then the variety of celestial actions on the one 
hand, and of natural powers on the other hand, being 
joined together, doth indeed cause wonderful things — 
by ointments, by collyries, by fumes, and such like — 
which are read of in the books of Chiramis, Archyta, 
Democritus, and Hermes, who is named Alchorat, and 
many others. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 117 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Of the Union of Mixt Things, and the Introduction of a 
More Noble Form, and the Senses of Life. 

Moreover, we must know, that by how much the 
more noble the form of any thing is, by so much the 
more prone and apt it is to receive, and powerful to 
act. Then the virtues of things do then become won- 
derful, viz., when they are put to matters that are 
mixed, and prepared in fit seasons, to make them alive, 
by procuring life for them from the Stars, as also a 
sensible Soul as a more noble form. For there is so 
great a power in prepared matters, which, we see, do 
then receive life when a perfect mixtion of qualities 
seems to break the former contrariety. For so much 
the more perfect life things receive, shews by how 
much their temper is more remote from contrariety. 

Now, the Heaven, as a prevalent cause, doth (from 
the beginning of every thing to be generated, by the 
due concoction and perfect digestion of the matter), 
together with life, bestow celestial influences and 
wonderful gifts, according to the Capacity that is in 
that Life and sensible Soul to receive more noble and 
sublime virtues. For the Celestial Virtue doth other- 
wise lie asleep, as sulphur kept from the flame, but in 
Living Bodies it doth always burn, as kindled sulphur; 
and then by its vapor, like the lighted sulphur, it fills 
all the places that are next to it. 

So certain wonderful works are wrought, such as are 
read of in the book of Nemith, which is titled a Book 
of the Laws of Pluto, because such kind of monstrous 
generations are not produced according to the Laws 
of Nature. For we know that of worms are generated 
gnats; of a horse, wasps; of a calf or ox, bees; of a 
crab, his legs being taken off and he buried in the 
ground, a scorpion; of a duck, dried into powder and 



118 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

put into water, are generated frogs; but if the duck be 
baked in a pie, and cut into pieces, and then put into 
a moist place under the ground, toads are generated 
of it. Of the herb garden basil, bruised betwixt two 
stones, are generated scorpions; and of the hairs of a 
catamenial person, buried under compost, are bred 
serpents; and the hair of a horse's tail, put into water, 
receiveth life and is turned into a pernicious worm. 
And there is an art wherewith, by a hen sitting upon 
eggs, may be generated a form like to a man (which I 
have seen and know how to make), which magicians 
say hath in it wonderful virtues; and this they call 
the true mandrake. You must, therefore, know which 
and what kind of matters are either of Nature or Art, 
begun or perfected, or compounded of more things, 
and what celestial influences they are able to receive. 
For a congruity of natural things is sufficient for the 
receiving of influence from those celestial; because, 
when nothing doth hinder the Celestials to send forth 
their lights upon Inferiors, they suffer no matter to be 
destitute of their virtue. Wherefore, as much matter 
as is perfect and pure, is not unfit to receive the celes- 
tial influence. For that is the binding and continuity 
of the matter to the Soul of the World, which doth so 
daily flow in upon things natural, and all things which 
Nature hath prepared, that it is impossible that a pre- 
pared matter should not receive life, or a more noble 
form. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

How, by some certain Natural and Artificial Preparations, 
We may Attract certain Celestial and Vital Gifts. 

Platonists, together with Hermes, say, and Jarchus 
Brachmanus and the Mecubals of the Hebrews confess, 
that all sublunary things are subject to generation and 



PHILOSOPHY OP NATURAL MAGIC. 119 

corruption, and that also there are the same things in 
the Celestial World, but after a celestial manner, as 
also in the Intellectual World, but in a far more per- 
fect and better fashion and manner, and in the most 
perfect manner of all in the Exemplary. And, after 
this course, that every inferior thing should, in its 
kind, answer its superior thing, and through this the 
Supreme Itself, and receive from heaven that celestial 
power they call the quintessence, or the Spirit of the 
World, or the Middle Nature; and from the Intellect- 
ual World a spiritual and enlivening virtue, transcend- 
ing all qualities whatsoever; and, lastly, from the 
Exemplary, or original. World, through the mediation 
of the other, according to their degree receive the 
original power of the whole perfection. Hence, every 
thing may be aptly reduced from these Inferiors to the 
Stars, from the Stars to their Intelligences, and from 
thence to the First Cause itself — from the series and 
order whereof all Magic and all Occult Philosophy 
flows: For every day some natural thing is drawn by 
art, and some divine thing is drawn by Nature, which, 
the Egyptians, seeing, called Nature a Magicianess 
(^. e.), the very Magical power itself, in the attracting 
of like by like, and of suitable things by suitable. 

Now, such kind of attractions, by the mutual corre- 
spondency of things amongst themselves, of superiors 
w^th inferiors, the Grecians called sympathies. So the 
earth agrees with cold water, the water with moist 
air, the air with fire, the fire with the heaven in water; 
neither is fire mixed with water, but by air; nor the air 
with the earth, but by water. So neither is the soul 
united to the body, but by the spirit; nor the under- 
standing to the spirit, but by the soul. So we see 
that when Nature hath framed the body of an infant, 
by this very preparative she presently fetcheth its 
spirit from the Universe. This spirit is its instrument 



120 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

to obtain of God its understanding and mind in its 
soul and body, as in wood the dryness is fitted to 
receive oil, and the oil, being imbibed, is food for the 
fire, the fire is the vehicle of light. By these exam- 
ples you see how by some certain natural and artificial 
preparations we are in a capacity to receive certain 
celestial gifts from above. For stones and metals 
have a correspondency with herbs, herbs with animals, 
animals with the heavens, the heavens with Intelli- 
gences, and they with divine properties and attributes 
and with God himself, after whose image and likeness 
all things are created. 

Now, the first image of God is the world; of the 
world, man; of man, beasts; of beasts, the zeophyton 
or zoophyte {i. e.), half animal and half plant; of the 
j zeophyton, plants; of plants, metals; and of metals, 
I stones. And, again, in things spiritual, the plant 
agrees with a brute in vegetation, a brute with a man 
in sense, man with an angel in understanding, and an 
angel with God in immortality. Divinity is annexed 
to the mind, the mind to the intellect, the intellect to 
the intention, the intention to the imagination, the 
imagination to the senses, and the senses, at last, to 
things. For this is the band and continuity of Nature, 
that all superior virtue doth flow through every infe- 
rior with a long and continued series, dispersing its 
. rays even to the very last things; and inferiors, 
I through their superiors, come to the very Supreme of 
all. For so inferiors are successively joined to their 
superiors, that there proceeds an influence from their 
head, the First Cause, as a certain string stretched out 
to the lowermost things of all; of which string, if one 
end be touched the whole doth presently shake, and 
such a touch doth sound to the other end; and at the mo- 
tion of an inferior the superior also is moved, to which 
the other doth answer, as strings in a lute well tuned. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 121 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

How we may Draio not only Celestial and Vital but also 
certain Intellectual and Divine Gifts from Above. 

Magicians teach that celestial gifts may, through 
inferiors being- conformable to superiors, be drawn 
down by opportune influences of the heaven; and so, 
also, by these celestial gifts, the celestial angels (as 
they are servants of the stars) may be procured and 
conveyed to us. lamblichus, Proclus and Synesius, 
with the whole school of Platonists, confirm that not 
only celestial and vital but also certain intellectual, 
angelical and divine gifts may be received from above 
by some certain matters having a natural power of 
divinity {i. e.), which have a natural correspondency 
with the superiors, being rightly received and oppor- 
tunely gathered together according to the rules of 
natural philosophy and astronomy. And Mercurius || 
Trismegistus writes, that an Image, rightly made of i, 
certain proper things, appropriated to any one certain 
angel will presently be animated by that angel. Of 
the same, also, Austin (St. Augustine) makes mention 
in his eighth book, De Civitate Dei (the City of God). 
For this is the harmony of the world, that things 
supercelestial be drawn down by the celestial, and 
the supernatural by those natural, because there is 
One Operative Virtue that is diffused through all 
kinds of things; by which virtue, indeed, as manifest 
things are produced out of occult causes, so a magician 
doth make use of things manifest to draw forth things 
that are occult, viz., through the rays of the Stars, 
through fumes, lights, sounds, and natural things 
which are agreeable to those celestial, in which, aside 
from their corporeal qualities, there is, also, a kind of 
reason, sense and harmony, and incorporeal and divine 
measures and orders. 



122 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

So we read that the ancients were wont often to 
receive some divine and wonderful thing by certain 
natural things: So the stone that is bred in the apple 
of the eye of a civet cat, held under the tongue of a 
man, is said to make him to divine or prophesy; the 
same is selenite, the moon-stone, reported to do. So 
they say that the Images of Gods may be called up by 
the stone called anchitis;* and that the ghosts of the 
dead may be, being called up, kept up by the stone 
synochitis. The like doth the herb aglauphotis do, 
which is also called marmorites, growing upon the 
marbles of Arabia, as saith Pliny, and the which 
magicians use. Also there is an herb called rhean- 
gelida with which magicians, drinking of, can proph- 
esy. Moreover, there are some herbs by which the 
dead are raised to life; whence Xanthus the historian 
tells, that with a certain herb called balus, a young 
dragon being killed, was made alive again; also, that 
by the same herb a certain man of Tillum, whom a 
dragon killed, was restored to life; and Juba reports, 
that in Arabia a certain man was by a certain herb 
restored to life. But whether or no any such things 
can be done, indeed, upon man by the virtue of herbs 
or any other natural thing, we shall discourse in the 
following chapter. Now, it is certain and manifest 
that such things can be done upon other animals. So 
if flies, that are drov/ned, be put into warm ashes they 
revive. And bees, being drowned, do in like matter 
recover life in the juice of the herb catnip; and eels, 
being dead for want of water, if w^ith their whole 
bodies they be put under mud in vinegar and the blood 
of a vulture being put to them, will all of them, in a 
few days, recover life. They say that if the fish 



*Tliis was, in all probability, some mineral that resembled Dr. Dee's cel- 
ebrated stone, wbicb was cannel-coal, a black mineral coal suflaciently hard 
to be cut and polished, and used by him as a Magic Mirror. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 123 

echeneis be cut into pieces and cast into the sea, the 
parts will within a little time come tog-ether and live. 
Also we know that the pelican doth restore her young 
to life, being killed, with her own blood. 



CHAPTER XXXIX. 

That loe may^ by some certain Matters of the Worlds Stir 
Up the Gods of the World and their Ministering Spirits. 

No MAN is ignorant that evil spirits, by evil and 
profane arts, may be raised up as Psellus saith sorcer- 
ers are wont to do, whom most detestable and abomi- 
nable filthiness did follow and accompany, such as 
were in times past in the sacrifices of Priapus, and in 
the worship, of the idol which was called Panor, to 
whom they did sacrifice with shameful nakedness. 
Neither to these is that unlike (if it be true and not a 
fable) which is read concerning the detestable heresy 
of old churchmen, and like to these are manifest in 
witches and mischievous women, which wickednesses 
the foolish dotage of women is subject to fall into. 
By these, and such as these, evil spirits are raised. 
As a wicked spirit spake once to John of one Cynops, 
a sorcerer: "All the power," saith he, "of Satan 
dwells there; and he is entered into a confederacy with 
all the principalities together, and likewise we with 
him; and Cynops obeys us and we, again, obey him." 
Again, on the contrary side, no man is ignorant that 
supercelestial angels or spirits may be gained by us 
through good works, a pure mind, secret prayers, 
devout humiliation, and the like. Let no man, there- 
fore, doubt that in like manner by some certain mat- 
ters of the world, the gods of the world may be raised 
by us, or, at least, the ministering spirits, or servants 
of these gods, and, as Mercurius saith, the airy spirits 



124 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

\ (not supercelestial, but less hig^her). So we read that 
the ancient priests made statues and images, foretell- 
ing things to come, and infused into them the Spirits 
of the Stars, which were not kept there by constraint 
in some certain matters, but rejoiced in them, viz., as 
acknowledging such kinds of matter to be suitable to 
them, they do always and willingly abide in them, and 
speak and do wonderful things by them; no otherwise 

' than evil spirits are wont to do when they possess 
men's bodies. 



CHAPTER XL. 

Of Bindings; what Sort tJiey are of, and in what Ways they 

are wont to be Done. 

We have spoken concerning the virtues and wonder- 
ful efficacy of natural things. It remains now that we 
understand a thing of great wonderment — and it is a 
binding of men into love or hatred, sickness or health, 
or such like. Also the binding of thieves and robbers, 
that they cannot steal in any place; the binding of 
merchants, that they cannot buy or sell in any place; 
the binding of an army, that they cannot pass over 
any bound; the binding of ships, that no winds, though 
never so strong, shall be able to carry them out of the 
haven. Also the binding of a mill, that it can by no 
force whatsoever be turned round; the binding of a 
cistern or fountain, that the water cannot be drawn up 
out of them; the binding of the ground, that it cannot 
bring forth fruit; the binding of any place, that noth- 
ing can be built upon it; the binding of fire, that 
though it be never so strong, can burn no combustible 
thing that is put to it. Also the bindings of lightnings 
and tempests, that they shall do no hurt; the binding 
of dogs, that they cannot bark; the binding of birds 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 125 

and wild beasts, that they shall not be able to fly or 
run away. And such like as these, which are scarce 
credible, yet often known by experience. Now, there 
are such kind of bindings as these made by sorceries, 
collyries, unguents, and love potions; by binding to or 
hanging up of things; by rings, by charms, by strong 
imaginations and passions, by images and characters, 
by enchantments and imprecations, by lights, by num- 
bers, by sounds, by words, and names, invocations, 
and sacrifices; by swearing, conjuring, consecrations, 
devotions, and by divers superstitions, and observa- 
tions, and such like. 



CHAPTER XLI. 

Of Sorceries, and their Power. 

The force of sorceries is reported to be so great that 
they are believed to be able to subvert, consume and 
change all inferior things, according Virgil's muse: 

Moeris for me these herbs in Pontus chose, 
And curious drugs, for there great plenty grows; 
I, many times, tvith these have Moeris spied 
Changed to a ivolfe, and in the ivoods to hide; 
From Sepulchres ivould souls departed charm. 
And Corn J)ear standing from another^ s Farm. 

Also, in another place, concerning the companions 
of Ulysses, whom 

The cruel Goddess, Circe, there invests 

With fierce aspects, and changed to savage Ijeasts. 

And, a little after, 

When love from Picus, Cerce could not gaine. 
Him, with her charming -laand, and hellish hane^ 



126 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Changed to a bird, and spots his speckled icings 
With sundry colors 

Now, there are some kinds of these sorceries men.- 
tioned by Lucan concerning that sorceress, Thessala, 
calling up ghosts, where he saith: 

Here all Nature's products unfortunate: 
Foam of mad Dogs, which waters fear and hate; 
Guts of the Lynx; Hyena's, knot imbred; 
The marrow of a Hart with Serpents fed 
Were not tvanting; no, nor the sea Lamprey, 
Which stops the ships; nor yet the Dragon's eye. 

And such as Apuleius tells of concerning Pamphila, 
that sorceress, endeavoring to procure love; to whom 
Fotis, a certain maid, brought the hairs of a goat (cut 
off from a bag or bottle made with the skin thereof) 
instead of Baeotius' (a young man) hair. Now she, 
saith Apuleius, being out of her wits for the young 
man, goeth up to the tiled roof and, in the upper part 
thereof, makes a great hole open to all the oriental 
and other aspects, and most fit for these her arts, and 
there privately worships; having before furnished her 
mournful house with suitable furniture, with all kinds 
of spices, with plates of iron with strange words 
engraven upon them, with parts of sterns of ships that 
were cast away and much lamented, and with divers 
members of buried carcasses cast abroad — here noses 
and fingers, there the fleshy nails of those that were 
hanged, and, in another place, the blood of them that 
were murdered, and their skulls, mangled with the 
teeth of wild beasts. Then she offers sacrifices (their 
enchanted entrails lying panting), and sprinkles them 
with divers kinds of liquors; sometimes with fountain 
water, sometimes with cows' milk, sometimes with 
mountain honey, and mead. Then she ties those hairs 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. • 127 

into knots, and lays them on the fire, with divers 
odors, to be burnt. Then presently, with an irresist- 
ible power of magic, and blind force of the g"ods, the 
bodies of those whose hairs did smoke, and crash, did 
assume the spirit of a man, and feel, and hear, and 
walk, and come whither the stink of their hair led 
them, and, instead of Baeotius, the young man, come 
skipping and leaping with joy and love into the house. 
Austin also reports that he heard of some women sor- 
ceresses, that were so well versed in these kind of arts, 
that, by giving cheese to men, they could presently 
turn them into working cattle and, the work being 
done, restored them into men again. 



CHAPTER XLII. 

Of the Wonderful Virtues of some kinds of Sorceries. 

Now I will shew you what some of the Sorceries 
are, that by the example of these there may be a way 
opened for the consideration of the whole subject of 
them. Of these, therefore, the first is the catamenia, 
which, how much power it hath in sorcery, we will 
now consider; for, as they say, if it comes over new 
wine it makes it sour, and if it doth but touch the 
vine, it spoils it forever; and, by its very touch, it 
makes all plants and trees barren, and they that be 
newly set to die; it burns up all the herbs in the gar- 
den and makes fruit fall off from the trees; it darkens 
the brightness of a looking-glass, dulls the edges of 
knives and razors, and dims the beauty of ivory. It 
makes iron presently rusty; it makes brass rust and 
smell very strong; it makes dogs mad if they do but 
taste of it, and if they, being thus mad, shall bite any 
one, that wound is incurable. It kills whole hives of 
bees, and drives them from the hives that are but 



128 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

touched with it. It makes linen black that is boiled 
with it; it makes mares cast their foal if they do but 
touch it, and makes asses barren as long as they eat 
of the corn that hath been touched with it. The ashes 
of catamenious clothes, if they be cast upon purple 
garments that are to be washed, change the color of 
them, and takes away colors from flowers. They say 
that it drives away tertian and quartan agues if it be 
put into the wool of a black ram, and tied up in a sil- 
ver bracelet; as, also, if the soles of the patient's feet 
be anointed therewith, and especially if it be done by 
the woman herself, the patient not knowing of it. 
Moreover, it cures the fits of the falling sickness; but 
most especially it cures them that are afraid of water, 
or drink after they are bitten with a mad dog, if only 
a catamenious cloth be put under the cup. Besides, 
they report, that if catamenious persons shall walk, 
being nude, about the standing corn, they make all 
cankers, worms, beetles, flies, and all hurtful things, 
to fall off from the corn; but they must take heed that 
they do it before sun-rising, or else they will make the 
corn to wither. Also, they say, they are able to expel 
hail, tempests, and lightnings, more of which Pliny 
makes mention of. Know this, that they are a greater 
poison if they happen in the decrease of the Moon, 
and yet much greater if they happen betwixt the 
decrease and change of the Moon; but if they happen 
in the eclipse of the Moon or the Sun, they are an 
incurable poison. But they are of greatest force of 
all when they happen in the first early years, even in 
the years of virginitj^, for if they do but touch the 
posts of the house there can no mischief take effect in 
it. Also, they say, that the threads of any garment 
touched therewith cannot be burnt, and if they be cast 
into the fire it will spread no further. Also, it is said, 
that the root of peony, being given with castor oil 



PHII.OSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 129 

smeared over, using the catamenious cloth, cureth the 
falling sickness. Moreover, if the stomach of a hart 
be burnt or roasted, and to it be put a perfuming made 
with a catamenious cloth, it will make cross-bows use- 
less for the killing of any game. The hairs of a cata- 
menious person, put under compost, breed serpents; 
and, if they be burnt, will drive away serpents with 
their smell. So great a poisonous force is in them 
that they are poison to poisonous creatures. 

There is, also, hippomanes, which amongst sorceries 
is not the least taken notice of, and it is a little ven- 
emous piece of flesh as big as a fig, and black, which 
is in the forehead of a colt newly foaled, which unless 
the mare herself presently eat, she will never after love 
her foal or let it suckle. And for this cause they say 
there is a most wonderful power in it to procure love, 
if it be powdered and drank in a cup with the blood of 
him that is in love. There is also another sorcery of 
the same name, hippomanes, a venemous humor of the 
mare in her mating season, of which Virgil makes 
mention when he sings: 

Hence comes that poison which the Shepherds call 
Hippomanes, and from, the Mares doth fall, 
The ivoeful hane which cruel stepdames use, 
And with a charme ^mongst powerful drugs infuse. 

Of this doth Juvenal, the satirist, make mention: 

Hippomanes, poysons that boyled are, and charmes 
Are given to Sons in lata, with such like harmes. 

Apollonius, also, in his Argonautica, makes mention 
of the herb of Prometheus, which he saith groweth 
from corrupt blood dropping upon the earth, whilst 
the vulture was gnawing upon the liver of Prometheus 
upon the hill Caucasus. The flower of this herb, he 
saith, is like saffron, having a double stalk hanging 



130 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

out, one further than the other the length of a cubit; 
the root under the earth, as flesh newly cut, sends 
forth a blackish juice as it were of a beech, with 
which, saith he, if any one shall, after he hath per- 
formed his devotion to Proserpina, smear over his 
body, he cannot be hurt either with sword or fire. 
Also Saxo Gramaticus writes, that there was a certain 
man, called Froton, who had a garment which, when 
he had put on, was such he could not be hurt with the 
point or edge of any weapon. The civet cat also 
abounds with sorceries, for, as Pliny reports, the posts 
of a door being touched with her blood, the arts of 
jugglers and sorcerers are so invalid that the gods 
cannot be called up, and will by no means be per- 
suaded to talk with them. Also, that they that are 
anointed with the ashes of the ankle-bone of her left 
foot, being decocted with the blood of a weasel, shall 
become odious to all. The same, also, is done with 
the eye, being decocted. Also, it is said, that the 
straight-gut is administered against the injustice and 
corruption of princes and great men in power, and for 
success of petitions, and to conduce to the ending of 
suits and controversies, if any one hath never so little 
of it about him; and that if it be bound unto the left 
arm, it is such a perfect charm that if any man do but 
look upon a woman, it w^ill make her follow him pres- 
ently; and that the skin of the civet cat's forehead 
doth withstand bewitchings. They say, also, that the 
blood of a basilisk, which they call the blood of Sat- 
urn, hath such great force in sorcery, that it procures 
for him that carries it about him good success of his 
petitions from great men in power, and of his prayers 
from God, and also remedies of diseases, and grant of 
any privilege. They say, also, that a tyke, if it be 
pulled out of the left ear of a dog, and if be it is alto- 
gether black, hath great virtue in the prognosticating 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 131 

of life, for if the sick party shall answer him that 
brought it in, and who, standing at his feet, shall ask 
of him concerning his disease, there is certain hope of 
life; and that he shall die if he make no answer. 

They say, also, that a stone that is bit with a mad 
dog hath power to cause discord, if it be put in drink, 
and that he shall not be barked at by dogs that puts 
the tongue of a dog in his shoe under his great toe, 
especially if the herb of the same name, viz., hound's- 
tongue, be joined with it. And that a membrane of 
the secondines of a dog doth the same; and that dogs 
will shun him that hath a dog's heart. And Pliny 
reports that there is a red toad that lives in briers and 
brambles, and is full of sorceries and doth wonderful 
things, for the little bone which is in his left side, 
being cast into cold water, makes it presently very 
hot; by which also the rage of dogs is restrained, and 
their love is procured if it be put in their drink; and, 
if it be bound to any one, it stirreth up desire. On the 
contrary, the little bone which is on the right side 
makes hot water cold, and that it can never be hot 
again unless that be taken out; also it is said to cure 
quartans if it be bound to the sick in a snake's skin, 
as also all other fevers, and to restrain love and desire. 
And that the spleen and heart is an effectual remedy 
against the poisons of the said toad. Thus much Pliny 
writes. Also, it is said, that the sword with which a 
man is slain hath wonderful power in sorceries. For 
if the snaffle of the bridle, or spurs, be made of it, 
they say that with these any horse, though never so 
wild, may be tamed and gentled; and that if a horse 
should be shod with shoes made of it, he would be 
most swift and fleet, and never, though never so hard 
rode, tire. But yet they will that some certain char- 
acters and names should be written upon it. They 
say, also, if any man shall dip a sword, wherewith men 



132 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

were beheaded, in wine, and the sick drink thereof, he 
shall be cured of his quartan. They say, also, that a 
cup of liquor being made with the brains of a bear, 
and drank out of the skull, shall make him that drinks 
it to be as fierce and as raging as a bear, and think 
himself to be changed into a bear, and judge all things 
he sees to be bears, and so to continue in that madness 
until the force of that draught shall be dissolved, no 
other distemper being all this while perceived in him. 



CHAPTER XLIII. 

Of Perfumes or Suffumigations; their Manner and Foiver. 

Some suffumigations, also, or perfumings, that are 
proper to the Stars, are of great force for the oppor- 
tune receiving of celestial gifts under the rays of the 
Stars, in as much as they do strongly work upon the 
air and breath. For our breath is very much changed 
by such kind of vapors, if both vapors be of another 
like. The air, also, being through the said vapors 
easily moved, or affected with the qualities of inferiors 
or those celestial, daily; and, quickly penetrating our 
breast and vitals, doth wonderfully reduce us to the 
like qualities. Wherefore, suffumigations are wont to 
be used by them that are about to soothsay or predict 
for to affect their fancy or conception; which suffumi- 
gations, indeed, being duly appropriated to any certain 
deities, do fit us to receive divine inspiration. So they 
say that fumes made with linseed, flea-bane seed, roots 
of violets, and parsley, doth make one to foresee things 
to come and doth conduce to prophesying. Let no 
man wonder how great things suffumigations can do in 
the air, especially when he shall with Porphyrins con- 
sider that by certain vapors, exhaling from proper 
suffumigations, airy spirits are presently raised, as 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 133 

also thunderings and lig-htnings, and such like things. 
As the liver of a chameleon, being burnt on the top of 
the house, doth, as is manifest, raise showers and 
lightnings. In like manner the head and throat of the 
chameleon, if they be burnt with oaken wood, cause 
storms and lightnings. There are also suffumigations 
under opportune inliuences of the Stars that make the 
images of spirits forthwith appear in the air or else- 
where. So, they say, that if of coriander, smallage^ 
henbane, and hemlock, be made a fume, that spirits 
w^ill presently come together; hence the}^ are called 
spirits' herbs. Also, it is said, that a fume made of 
the root of the reedy herb sagapen, with the juice of 
hemlock and henbane, and the herb tapsus barbatus, 
red Sanders, and black poppy, makes spirits and 
strange shapes appear; and if smallage be added to 
them, the fume chaseth aw^ay spirits from any place 
and destroys their visions. In like manner, a fume 
made of calamint, peony, mints, and palma christi, 
drives away all evil spirits and vain imaginations. 

Moreover, it is said that by certain fumes certain 
animals are gathered together and also put to flight, 
as Pliny mentions concerning the stone liparis, that 
with the fume thereof all beasts are called out. So 
the bones in the upper part of the throat of a hart, 
being burnt, gather all the serpents together; but the 
horn of the hart, being burnt, doth with its fume chase 
them all aw^ay. The same doth a fume of the feathers 
of peacocks. Also, the lungs of an ass, being burnt, 
puts all poisonous things to flight; the fume of the 
burnt hoof of a horse drives away mice; the same doth 
the hoof of a mule; with which, also, if it be the hoof 
of the left foot, flies are driven away. And, they say, 
if a house or any place be smoked with the gall of a 
cuttle-fish, made into a confection with red storax, 
roses, and lignum-aloes, or lignaloes, and if then there 



134 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

be some sea-water, or blood, cast into that place, the 
whole house will seem to be full of water or blood; 
and if some earth of plowed g^round be cast there, the 
earth will seem to quake. Now, such kinds of vapors, 
we must conceive, do infect any body and infuse a vir- 
tue into it, which doth continue long, even as any con- 
tagious or poisonous vapor of the pestilence, being- 
kept for two years in the wall of a house infects the 
inhabitants, and as the contagion of pestilence, or 
leprosy, lying hid in a garment, doth long after infect 
him that wears it. Therefore were certain suffumiga- 
tions used to affect images, rings, and such like instru- 
ments of magic and hidden treasures, and, as Porphy- 
rins saith, very effectually. So, they say, if any one 
shall hide gold or silver, or any other precious thing, 
the Moon being in conjunction with the Sun, and shall 
fume the hiding place with coriander, saffron, henbane, 
smallage, and black poppy, of each a like quantity, 
bruised together, and tempered with the juice of hem- 
lock, that which is so hid shall never be found or 
taken away; and that spirits shall continually keep it, 
and if any one shall endeavor to take it away he shall 
be hurt by them and shall fall into a frenzy. 

And Hermes saith that there is nothing like the 
fume of spermaceti for the raising of spirits. Where- 
fore, if a fume be made of that and lignum-aloes, red 
storax, pepper-wort, musk, and saffron, all tempered 
together, with the blood of a lapwing, it will quickly 
gather airy spirits together, and if it be used about 
the graves of the dead, it gathers together spirits and 
the ghosts of the dead. 

So, as often as we direct any work to the Sun, we 
must make suffumigations with Solary things, and if 
to the Moon, with Lunary things, and so of the rest. 
And we must know that as there is a contrariety and 
enmity in stars and spirits, so also in suffumigations 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 135 

unto the same. So there is also a contrariety betwixt 
lignum aloes and sulphur, frankincense, and quick- 
silver; therefore spirits that are raised by the fume of 
lignum aloes are allayed by the burning of sulphur. 
As Proclus gives an example of a spirit, which was 
wont to appear in the form of a lion, but, by the set- 
ting of a cock before it, vanished away because there 
is a contrariety betwixt a cock and a lion, and 'so the 
like consideration and practice is to be observed con- 
cerning such like things. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 

The Composition of some Fumes approjjriated to the Planets. 

We make a suffumigation for the Sun in this manner, 
viz. , of saffron, ambergris, musk, lignum aloes, lignum 
balsam, the fruit of the laurel, cloves, myrrh, and 
frankincense; all which being bruised and mixt in such 
a proportion as may make a sweet odor, must be incor- 
porated with the brain of an eagle, or the blood of a 
white cock, after the manner of pills or troches. 

For the Moon we make a suffumigation of the head 
of a dried frog, the eyes of a bull, the seed of white 
poppy, frankincense, and camphor; which must be 
incorporated with catamenia, or the blood of a goose. 

For Saturn, take black poppy seed, henbane, root of 
mandrake, the loadstone, and myrrh, and make them 
up with the brain of a cat or the blood of a bat. 

For Jupiter, take the seed of ash, lignum aloes, sto- 
rax, the gum benjamin or benzoin, the lazuli stone, 
and the tops of the feathers of a peacock; and incor- 
porate them with the blood of a stork, or a swallow, 
or the brain of a hart. 

For Mars, take euphorbium, bdellium, gum ammo- 
niac, the roots of both hellebores, the loadstone, and 
a little sulphur; and incorporate them all with the 



136 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

brain of a hart, the blood of a man and the blood of a 
black cat. 

For Venus, take musk, ambergris, lignum aloes, red 
roses and red coral, and make them up with the brain 
of sparrows and the blood of pigeons. 

For Mercury, take mastic, frankincense, cloves, and 
the herb cinque-foil, and the stone achate, and incor- 
porate them all with the brain of a fox or weasel, and 
the blood of a magpie. 

Besides, to Saturn are appropriated for fumes all 
odoriferous roots, as pepper-wort root, etc., and the 
frankincense tree; to Jupiter, odoriferous fruits, as 
nutmegs and cloves; to Mars, all odoriferous wood, as 
Sanders, cypress, lignum balsam and lignum aloes; to 
the Sun, all gums, frankincense, mastic, benjamin, 
storax, ladanum, ambergris and musk; to Venus, sweet 
flowers, as roses, violets, saffron, and such like; to 
Mercury, all the peels of wood and fruit, as cinnamon, 
lignum cassia, mace, citron or lemon peel, and bay- 
berries, and whatsoever seeds are odoriferous; to the 
Moon, the leaves of all vegetables, as the leaf indum, 
and the leaves of the myrtle and bay-tree. 

Know, also, that according to the opinion of the 
magicians, in every good matter, as love, good will, 
and the like, there must be a good fume, odoriferous 
and precious; and in every evil matter, as hatred, 
anger, misery, and the like, there must be a stinking 
fume, that is of no worth. 

The twelve Signs, also, of the Zodiac have their 
proper fumes, as Aries hath myrrh; Taurus, pepper- 
wort; Gemini, mastic; Cancer, camphor; Leo, frank- 
incense; Virgo, Sanders; Libra, galbanum; Scorpio, 
opopanax; Sagittarius, lignum aloes; Capricornus, 
benjamin; Aquarius, euphorbium; Pisces, red storax. 
But Hermes describes the most powerful fume to be 
that which is compounded of the Seven Aromatics, 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 137 

according to the powers of the Seven Planets — for it 
receives from Saturn, pepper-wort; from Jupiter, nut- 
meg; from Mars, lignum aloes; from the Sun. mastic; 
from Venus, saffron; from Mercury, cinnamon; and 
from the Moon, the myrtle. 



CHAPTER XLV. 

Of CoUyries, Unctions, Love- Medicines, and their Virtues. 

Moreover, collyries and unguents, conveying the 
virtues of things natural and celestial to our spirit, 
can multiply, transmute, transfigure, and transform it 
accordingly, as also transpose those virtues which are 
in them into it; that so, it cannot act only upon its 
own body, but also upon that which is near it, and 
affect that by visible rays, charms, and by touching it 
with some like quality. For because our spirit is the 
subtile, pure, lucid, airy, and unctuous vapor of the 
blood, it is therefore fit to make collyries of the like 
vapors, which are more suitable to our spirit in sub- 
stance, for then, by reason of their likeness, they do 
the more stir up, attract, and transform the spirit. 
The like virtues have certain ointments and other con- 
fections. Hence by the touch sometimes sickness, 
poisonings, and love is induced; some things, as the 
hands or garments, being anointed. Also by kisses, 
some things being held in the mouth, love is induced; 
as in Virgil we read that Venus prays Cupid 

That ivhen glad Dido hugs him in her lap 
At royal feasts, crown'd with the cheering grape^ 
When she, eiTibracing, shall sweet kisses give. 
Inspire hid flame, with deadly J)ane deceive. 
He would 

Now the sight, because it perceives more purely and 
clearly than the other senses, and fastening in us the 



138 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

marks of things more acutely and deeply, doth most 
of all and before others, agree with the phantastic 
spirit, as is apparent in dreams, when things seen do 
more often present themselves to us than things heard, 
or any thing coming under the other senses. There- 
fore, when collyries or eye-waters transform visual 
spirits, that spirit doth easily affect the imagination, 
which indeed being affected with divers species and 
forms, transmits the same by the same spirit unto the 
outward sense of sight; by which occasion there is 
caused in it a perception of such species and forms in 
that manner, as if it were moved by external objects, 
that there seem to be seen terrible images and spirits 
and such like. So there are made collyries, making 
us forthwith to see the images of spirits in the air or 
elsewhere; as I know how to make of the gall of a 
man, and the eyes of a black cat, and of some other 
\ things. The like is made also of the blood of a lap- 
wing, of a bat, and a goat; and, they say, if a smooth, 
shining piece of steel be smeared over with the juice 
of mug-wort, and made to fume, it will make invoked 
spirits to be seen in it. So, also, there are some suf- 
fumigations, or unctions, which make men speak in 
their sleep, to walk, and to do those things which are 
done by men that are awake; and sometimes to do 
those things which men that are awake cannot or dare 
not do. Some there are that make us to hear horrid 
or delectable sounds, and such like. And this is the 
cause why maniacal and melancholy men believe they 
see and hear those things without which their imagi- 
nation doth only fancy within; hence they fear things 
not to be feared, and fall into wonderful and most false 
suspicions, and fly when none pursue th them; are also 
angry and contend, nobody being present, and fear 
where no fear is. Such like passions also can magical 
confections induce, by suffumigations, by collyries, by 



PHILOSOPHY OP NATURAL MAGIC. 139 

unguents, by potions, by poisons, by lamps and lights, 
by looking-g-lasses, by images, enchantments, charms, 
sounds and music. Also by divers rites, observations, 
ceremonies, religions and superstitions; all which shall 
be handled in their places. And not only by these 
kind of arts are passions, apparitions and images in- 
duced, but also things themselves, which are really 
changed and transfigured into divers forms, as the 
poet relates of Proteus, Periclimenus, Acheloas, and 
Merra, the daughter of Erisichthon. So, also, Circe 
changed the companions of Ulysses; and of old, in the 
sacrifices of Jupiter Lyc^us, the men that tasted of 
the inwards of the sacrifices were turned into wolves 
which, Pliny saith, befell a certain man called Demar- 
chus. The same opinion was Austin of, for, he saith, 
whilst he was in Italy, he heard of some women that 
by giving sorceries in cheese to travelers, turned them 
into working cattle, and when they had done such 
work as they would have them, turned them into men 
again; and that this befell a certain priest called 
Prestantius. The Scriptures themselves testify that 
Pharao's sorcerers turned their rods into serpents and 
water into blood, and did other such like things. 



CHAPTER XLVI. 

Of natural Alligations and Suspensions. 

When the Soul of the World by its virtue doth make 
all things that are naturally generated or artificially 
made to be fruitful, by infusing into them celestial 
properties for the working of some wonderful effects, 
then things themselves — not only when applied by 
suffumigations, or collyries, or ointments, or potions, 
or any other such like way, but also when they, being 
conveniently wrapped up, are bound to or hanged 

10 



140 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

about the neck, or in any other way applied, althoug'h 
by never so easy a contact — do impress their virtue 
upon us. By these alligations, therefore, suspensions, 
wrapping's up, applications, and contacts, the acci- 
dents of the body and mind are changed into sickness, 
health, boldness, fear, sadness, and joy, and the like. 
They render them that carry them gracious or terrible, 
acceptable or rejected honored and beloved or hateful 
and abominable. Now these kind of passions are con- 
ceived to be by the above said to be infused, and not 
otherwise, like what is manifest in the grafting of 
trees, where the vital virtue is sent and communicated 
from the trunk to the twig grafted into it by way of 
contact and alligation. So in the female palm-tree, 
when she comes near to the male her boughs bend to 
the male, and are bowed, which, the gardeners seeing, 
bind ropes from the male to the female, which becomes 
straight again, as if she had by this connection of the 
rope received the virtue of the male. In like manner 
we see that the cramp-fish, or torpedo, being touched 
afar off with a long pole, doth presently stupefy the 
hand of him that toucheth it. And if any shall touch 
the sea-hare with his hand or stick will presently run 
out of his wits. Also, if the fish called stella, or star- 
fish, as they say, being fastened with the blood of a 
fox and a brass nail to a gate, evil medicines can do 
no hurt to any in such house. Also, it is said, that if 
a woman take a needle and beray it with dung, and 
then wrap it up in earth in which the carcass of a man 
was buried, and shall carry it about her in a cloth 
which was used at the funeral, that she shall be able 
to possess herself so long as she hath it about her. 

Now, by these examples, we see how, by certain 
alligations of certain things, as also suspensions, or 
by a simple contact, or the connection or continuation 
of any thread, we may be able to receive some virtues 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 141 

thereby. It is necessary that we know the certain rule 
of Alligation and Suspension, and the manner which 
the Art requires, viz. , that they be done under a cer- 
tain and suitable Constellation, and that they be done 
with wire, or silken threads, with hair, or sinews of cer- 
tain animals. And things that are to be wrapped up 
must be done in the leaves of herbs, or the skins of 
animals, or Jine cloths, and the like, according to the 
suitableness of things — as, if you would procure the 
Solary virtue of any thing, this being wrapped up in 
bay leaves, or the skin of a lion, hang it about thy 
neck with a golden thread, or a silken thread of a 
yellow color, whilst the Sun rules in the heaven — so 
thou shalt be endued with the Solary virtue of that 
thing. But if thou dost desire the virtue of any Sat- 
urnine thing, thou shalt in like manner take that thing 
whilst Saturn rules, and wrap it in the skin of an ass, 
or in a cloth used at a funeral (especially if you desire 
it for sadness), and with a black thread hang it about 
thy neck. In like manner we must conceive of the rest. 



CHAPTER XL VII. 
Of 3Iagical Rings and their Compositions. 

Rings, also, which were always much esteemed of 
by the ancients, when they are opportunely made, do 
in like manner impress their virtue upon us, in as 
much as they do affect the spirit of him that carries 
them with gladness or sadness, and render him court- 
eous or terrible, bold or fearful, amiable or hateful; in 
as much as they do fortify us against sickness, poi- 
sons, enemies, evil spirits, and all manner of hurtful 
things, or, at least, will not suffer us to be kept under 
them. Now, the manner of making these kinds of 
Magical Rings is this, viz. : When any Star ascends 



142 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

fortunately, with the fortunate aspect or conjunction 
of the Moon, we must take a stone and herb that is 
under that Star, and make a ring- of the metal that is 
suitable to this Star, and in it fasten the stone, putting 
the herb or root under it — not omitting the inscriptions 
of images, names, and characters, as also the proper 
suffumigations; but we shall speak more of these in 
another place, where we shall treat of Images and 
Characters. 

So we read in Philostratus Jarchus that a wise prince 
of the Indies bestowed seven rings made after this 
manner (marked with the virtues and names of the 
seven planets) to Apollonius; of which he wore every- 
day of the week one thereof, distinguishing them- in 
their order according to the names of the days, as is 
set forth by astrologers, viz., Sunday, the ring marked 
with the virtues and inscribed with the name and seal 
of the Sun, that planet which ruleth over Sunday and 
from which the day taketh its name; Monday, the ring 
of the virtues, seal and name of the Moon; Tuesday, 
that inscribed unto Mars; Wednesday, that unto Mer- 
cury; Thursday, that inscribed unto Jupiter; Friday, 
that unto Venus, and Saturday^ that unto the planet 
Saturn, seeing as Saturday is the last day of the week 
and hath correspondence with the last end of life, 
and is ruled by Saturn which carries the sickle of 
death; and, it is said, that Apollonius, by the benefit 
of these seven magical rings, lived above one hundred 
and thirty years, as also that he always retained the 
beauty and vigor of his youth. In like manner Moses, 
the law-giver and ruler of the Hebrews, being skilled 
in the Magic of the Egyptians, is said by Josephus to 
have made rings of love and oblivion. There was 
also, as saith Aristotle, amongst the Cireneans, a ring 
of Battus which could procure love and honor. We 
read also that Eudamus, a certain philosopher, made 



PHII.OSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 143 

rings against the bites of serpents, bewitchings, and 
evil spirits. The same doth Josephus relate of Solo- 
mon. Also we read in Plato that Gygus, the king- of 
Lydia, had a ring of wonderful and strange virtues, 
the seal of which, when he turned it toward the palm 
of his hand, rendered him invisible; nobody could see 
him, but he could see all things; and, by the oppor- 
tunity of which ring, he deceived the queen and slew 
the king, his master, and killed whomsoever he 
thought stood in his way; and in these villainies no 
one could see him; and, at length, by the benefit of 
this ring he became king of Lydia himself.* 



CHAPTER XLVIII. 

Of the Virtue of Places, and lohat Places are Suitable to 

every Star. 

There be wonderful virtues of places accompanying 
them, either from things there placed, or by the influ- 
ences of the Stars, or in any other way. For, as Pliny 
relates of a cuckoo, in what place any one doth first 
hear him, if his right foot-print be marked about and 



* Notwithstanding tlie many exaggerated accounts like this one of King 
Gygus, the editor desires to give his unqualified assent as to the occult prop- 
erties of specially prepared Magical Rings. When a hoy he got a copy of an 
old hook entitled " The History and Poetry of Finger Rings," which contains 
much curious information on the subject, and from that time to this he has 
"by personal experiment, and much study in connection with other occult 
arts that hear upton the matter, became confident that rings may be made 
that will insure man}'- good things to their possessors— warding off and cur- 
ing diseases, guarding against evil transits and other dangerous influences, 
and those which will favorably influence one's station in life, and procure 
other ardently desired things and ends. The Masonic ring will gradually 
take on occult power if its owner yields intelligent assistance on every call, 
methodically performing his regular society duty, thereby infusing his ring 
with Masonic virtues. Of course, a properly prepared ring may seemingly 
fail of its specified object, but we are inclined to believe that they are help- 
ful, however little their effect may be noticed, in every case. We warn our 
readers against the numerous charlatans who sell so-called Magical Rings. 
Magical Rings are never sold as such. Whatever virtue may exist in a ring 
the owner alone confirms and binds. All that any other person can do is 



144 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

that place dug" up, there will no fleas be bred in that 
place where it is scattered. So they say that the dust 
of the track of a snake, being gathered up and scat- 
tered amongst bees, makes them return to their hives. 
So, also, that the dust in which a mule hath rolled 
himself, being cast upon the body, doth mitigate the 
heat of passion; and that the dust wherein a hawk 
hath rolled herself, if it be bound to the body in a 
bright red cloth, cures the quartan. So doth the stone 
taken out of the nest of a swallow, as they say, pres- 
ently relieve those that have the falling sickness, and 
being bound to the party, continually preserves them, 
especially if it be rolled in the blood or heart of a 
swallow. And it is reported that if any one shall cut 
a vein, being fasting, and shall go over a place where 
any one lately fell with the fit of a falling sickness, 
that he shall fall into the same disease. And Pliny 
reports that to fasten an iron nail in that place where 
he that fell with a fit of the falling sickness first did 
pitch his head, will free him from his disease. So 
they say that an herb, growing upon the head of any 
image, being gathered, and bound up in some part of 



to properly instruct how such a ring should be made and worn. Any so- 
called " prophet" or "oracle " that now disgraces and perverts true occult 
art will most probably lay claim to this knowledge, as will those astrologers 
and "gifted" pretenders in America who hide their crude acquirements 
and practices behind high-sounding names. I say "in America," because 
in England even eminent practitioners are prohibited by British law from 
doing work for the public and are forced, for self-protection, to serve under 
assumed names. Such a condition not prevailing in this country it is safe to 
regard those who assume titles as either charlatans or who act from a very 
superficial knowledge. There may, possibly, be honorable exceptions to this 
rule, but we doubt it. Consult yourself, therefore, regarding a personal 
occult ring, selecting the metal, stone and design that you are most pleased 
with. Then you have made a proper start, and, in a great many cases, need 
go no further; thus every plain gold marriage ring becomes a magical ring. 
As the courtship is exalted so will be the potency of the ring. The wife may 
often owe her security to the marriage ring and should always wear it. 
To lose the marriage ring portends evil, and another one, heavier and 
engraven with the first names of the couple— like "Jack" and "Mary "—and 
the marriage date, should be procured as soon as circumstances will permit. 
Every ring, being a circle, contains occult force and sj^mbolizes the eternal. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 145 

one's garment with a red thread, shall presently allay 
the headache; and that any herb gathered out of the 
brooks or rivers before Sunrising, and no body seeing 
him that gathers it, shall cure the tertian if it be 
bound to the left arm, the sick party not knowing 
what is done. 

Amongst places that are appropriated to the Stars, 
all stinking places, and dark, underground, religious, 
and mournful places, as church-yards, tombs, and 
houses not inhabited by men; and old, tottering, ob- 
scure, dreadful houses; and solitary dens, caves and 
pits; also fish-ponds, standing pools, sewers, and such 
like, are appropriated to Saturn. Unto Jupiter are 
ascribed all privileged places, consistories of noble- 
men, tribunals, chairs, places for exercises, schools, 
and all beautiful and clean places, an(3. those sprinkled 
with divers odors. To Mars, fiery and bloody places, 
furnaces, bakehouses, shambles, places of execution, 
and places where there have been great battles fought 
and slaughters made, and the like. To the Sun, light 
places, the serene air, kings' palaces and princes' 
courts, pulpits, theaters, thrones, and all kingly and 
magnificent places. To Venus, pleasant fountains, 
green meadows, flourishing gardens, garnished beds, 
stews, and, according to Orpheus, the sea, the sea- 
shore, baths, dancing places, and all places belonging 
to women. To Mercury, shops, schools, warehouses, 
exchanges for merchailts, and the like. To the Moon, 
wildernesses, woods, rocks, hills, mountains, forests, 
fountains, waters, rivers, seas, seashores, ships, high- 
ways, groves, granaries for corn, and such like. On 
this account they that endeavor to procure love are 
wont to bury for a certain time the instruments of 
their art, whether they be rings, images, looking- 
glasses, or any other, or hide them in a stew house, so 
that they will contract some virtue under Venus, the 



146 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

same as those things that stand in stinking places 
become stinking, and those in an aromatical place 
become aromatic and of a sweet savor. 

The four corners of the earth also pertain to this 
matter. Hence they that are to gather a Saturnine, 
Martial, or Jovial herb must look towards the East or 
South, partly because they desire to be oriental from 
the Sun, and partly because of their principal houses, 
viz. : Aquarius, Scorpio and Sagittarius are Southern 
Signs, so also are Capricornus and Pisces. But they 
that will gather a Venereal, Mercurial or Lunary herb 
must look towards the West because they delight to be 
western, or else they must look towards the North 
because their principal houses — viz., Taurus, Gemini, 
Cancer, Virgo — are Northern Signs. So in any Solary 
work we must look not only towards the East and 
South whilst plucking it, but also towards the Solary 
body and light. 



CHAPTER XLIX. 

Of Light, Colors, Candles and Lamps, and to what Stars, 
Houses and Elements several Colors are Ascribed. 

Light also is a quality that partakes much of form, 
and is a simple act, and also a representation of the 
understanding. It is first diffused from the Mind of 
God into all things; but in God the Father, the Father 
of Light, it is the first true light; then in the Son a 
beautiful, overflowing brightness, and in the Holy 
Ghost a burning brightness, exceeding all Intelligen- 
ces; yea, as Dyonisius saith of Seraphims, in angels 
it is a shining intelligence diffused, an abundant joy 
beyond all bounds of reason, yet received in divers 
degrees, according to the nature of the Intelligence 
that receives it. Then it descends into the celestial 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 147 

bodies, where it becomes a store of life and an effectual 
propagation; even a visible splendor. In the fire it is 
a certain natural liveliness, infused into it by the heav- 
ens. And, lastly, in men, it is a clear course of reason, 
an innate knovv^ledge of divine things, and the whole 
rational faculty; but this is manifold, either by reason 
of the disposition of the body or by reason of him who 
bestows it, who gives it to every one as he pleaseth. 
From thence it passeth to the fancy, yet above the 
senses, but only imaginable; and thence to the senses, 
especially to the sense of the eyes. In them light is 
a visible clearness; and is extended to other perspicu- 
ous bodies, in which it becomes a color and a shining 
beauty; but in dark bodies it is a certain beneficial 
and generative virtue, and penetrates to the very cen- 
ter where its beams, being collected into a small place, 
become a dark heat, tormenting and scorching, so that 
all things perceive the vigor of the light according to 
their capacity — and all light, joining to itself an en- 
livening heat, and, passing through all things, doth 
convey its qualities and virtues to all things. Great 
is the power of light to mar or make enchantments. 
So a sick man, uncovered against the Sun or the Moon, 
their rays become charged with the noxious qualities 
of the sickness and, penetrating, convey them into the 
body of another, and affect that with a quality of the 
same kind. So that from the sick should be covered 
deep from the light, lest its occult quality doth infect 
the well. This is the reason why Enchanters have a 
care to cover their enchantments with their shadow. 
So the civet cat make all dogs dumb with the very 
touch of her shadow. 

Also, there are made, artificially, some Lights, by 
lamps, torches, candles, and such like, of some certain 
thing and fluids, opportunely chosen, according to the 
rule of the Stars, and composed amongst themselves 



148 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

according to their congruity, which, when they be 
lighted, and shine alone, are wont to produce some 
wonderful and celestial, effects, which men many times 
wonder at. So'Pliny reports, out of Anaxilaus, of a 
poison of mares which, being lig'hted in torches, doth 
monstrously represent a sight of- horses' heads. The 
like may be done with flies, which, being duly tem- 
pered with wax, and lighted, make a strange sight of 
flies; and the skin of a serpent,, lighted in a proper 
lamp, maketh serpents appear. * They say that when 
grapes are in their flower, if any one shall bind a vial 
full of oil to them, and shall let it alone until they be 
ripe, and then the oil be put in a lamp and lighted, it 
makes grapes to be seen; and so with other fruits. If 
centaury be mixed with honey, and the blood of a lap- 
wing, and be put in a lamp, they that stand about will 
look much larger than they are wont; and if it be lit 
in a clear night the Stars will seem to scatter one from 
another. Such force, also, is in the ink of the cuttle- 
fish that it, being put into a lamp, makes blackamoors 
appear. It is also reported that a candle, made of 
some Saturnine things, being lighted, if it be extin- 
guished in the mouth of a man newly dead, will after- 
wards, as oft as it shines alone, bring a feeling of sad- 
ness and great fear upon them that stand about it. 
Of such like torches and lamps doth Hermes speak 
more of, also Plato and Chyrannides, and of the latter 
writers, Albertus, in a certain treatise of this particu- 
lar thing. 

Colors, also, are a class of lights, which, being duly 
mixed with things, are wont to expose such things to 
the influence of those Stars to which the colors are 
agreeable. And we shall afterwards speak of some 
colors which are the Lights of the Planets, by which 
even the natures of Fixed Stars themselves are under- 
stood, which also may be applied to the flames of 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 149 

lamps and candles. But in this place we shall relate 
how the colors of inferior mixed things are distributed 
to divers planets. All colors as black, lucid, earthy, 
leaden, or brown, have relation to Saturn. Sapphire 
and airy colors, and those which are always green, 
clear, purple, darkish, golden, or mixed with silver, 
belong to Jupiter. Red colors, and burning, fiery, 
flaming, violet, purple, bloody, and iron colors, resem- 
ble Mars. Golden, saffron, purple, and bright colors, 
resemble the Sun. But all white, fair, curious, green, 
ruddy, betwixt saffron and purple, resemble Venus, 
Mercury and the Moon. Moreover, amongst the Signs 
of the Zodiac, known as the Houses of the Heaven, 
the first and seventh hath the color white; the second 
and twelfth, green; the third and eleventh, saffron; 
the fourth and the tenth, red; the fifth and ninth, a 
honey color; and the sixth and eighth, black. 

The Elements, also, have their colors, by which 
natural philosophers judge of the complexion and 
property of their nature. For an earthy color, caused 
of coldness and dryness, is brown, and black, and 
manifests black choler and a Saturnine nature. Blue, 
tending towards whiteness, doth denote phlegm. For 
cold makes white; moisture and dryness makes black. 
Reddish color shews blood; but fiery, flaming, burning 
hot, shews choler, which, by reason of its subtilty and 
aptness to mix with others, doth cause divers colors 
more; for if it be mixed with blood, and blood be most 
predominant, it makes a florid red; if choler predomi- 
nate, it makes a reddish color; if there be an equal 
mixtion, it makes a sad red. But if adust choler be 
mixed with blood it makes a hempen color; and red, if 
blood predominate; and somewhat red if choler pre- 
vail; but if it be mixed with a melancholy humor it 
makes a black color; but with melancholy and phlegm 
together, in an equal proportion, it makes a hempen 



150 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

color. If phlegm abound, a mud color; if melancholy, 
a bluish; but if it be mixed with phlegm alone, in an 
equal proportion, it makes a citron color; if unequally, 
a pale or palish. .Now, all colors are more prevalent 
when they be in silk, or in metals, or in perspicuous 
substances, or in precious stones, and in those things 
which resemble celestial bodies in color, especially in 
living things. 



CHAPTER L. 

Of Fascination, and the Art thereof. 

Fascination is a binding, which comes from the 
spirit of the witch, through the eyes of him that is so 
bewitched, and entering to his heart. Now the instru- 
ment of fascination is the spirit, viz., a certain pure, 
lucid, subtile vapor, generated of the purer blood by 
the heat of the heart. This doth always send forth, 
through the eyes, rays like to itself. Those rays, be- 
ing sent forth, do carry with them a spiritual vapor, 
and that vapor a blood (as it appears in swollen and 
red eyes), whose rays, being sent forth to the eyes of 
him that looks upon them, carry the vapor of the cor- 
rupt blood together with itself; by the contagion of 
which it doth infect the eyes of the beholder with the 
like disease. So the eye, being opened and intent 
upon any one with a strong imagination, doth dart its 
beams (which are the vehiculum of the spirit) into the 
eyes of him that is opposite to him; which tender spirit 
strikes the eyes of him that is bewitched, being stirred 
up from the heart of him that strikes, and possesseth 
the breast of him that is stricken, wounds his heart 
and infects his spirit. Whence Apuleius saith, "Thy 
eyes, sliding down through my eyes into mine inward 
breast, stir up a most vehement burning in my marrow. ' ' 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 151 

Know, then, that men are most bewitched when, with 
often beholding-, they direct the edge of their sight to 
the edge of the sight of those that bewitch them; and 
when their eyes are reciprocally intent one upon the 
other, and when rays are joined to rays and lights to 
lights, the spirit of the one is joined to the spirit of 
the other and fixeth its sparks. So are strong liga- 
tions made, and so most vehement loves are inflamed 
with only the rays of the eyes; even with a certain 
sudden looking on, as if it were with a dart or stroke, 
penetrating the whole body, whence then the spirit 
and amorous blood, being thus wounded, are carried 
forth upon the lover and enchanter, no otherwise than 
the blood and spirit of the vengeance of him that is 
slain are upon him that slays him. Whence Lucretius 
sang concerning those amorous bewitchings: 

The body smitten is, but yet the mind 

Is wounded with the darts of Cupid blind. 

All parts do Sympathize V tW ivound, but know 

The blood appears in that which had the blow."^ 

So, great is the power of fascination, especially 
when the vapors of the eyes are subservient to the 
affection. Therefore witches use collyries, ointments, 
alligations, and such like, to affect and corroborate 
the spirit in this or that manner. To procure love 
they use venereal collyries, as hippomanes, the blood 
of doves, or sparrows, and such like. To induce fear, 
they use martial collyries, as of the eyes of wolves, 



* Again, in speaking of the power of Venus, the goddess of peace, over 
Mars, the god of war, he says: 

On thy soft bosom he— 
The warlike field who sways— almighty Mars, 
struck by triumphant Love's eternal wound, 
Reclines full frequent. With uplifted gaze 
On thee he feeds his longing, lingering eyes. 
And all his soul hangs quivering from thy lips. 



152 HENRY COJINELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

the civet cat, and the like. To procure raisery or sick- 
ness, they use Saturnine things, and so of the rest. 



CHAPTER LI. 

Of certain Observations, Producing wonderful Virtues. 

They say that certain acts and observations have a 
certain power of natural things; that they believe dis- 
eases may be expelled, or brought thus and thus. So 
they say that quartanes may be driven away if the 
parings of the nails of the sick be bound to the neck 
of a live eel, in a linen cloth, and she be let go into 
the water. And Pliny saith that the parings of a sick 
man's nails of his feet and hands being mixed with 
wax, cure the quartan, tertian, and quotidian ague; 
and if they be before Sunrising fastened to another 
man's gate, will cure such like diseases. In like man- 
ner, let all the parings of the nails be put into the 
caves of ants, and the first ant that begins to draw at 
the parings must be taken and bound to the neck of 
the sick, and by this means will the disease be cured. 
They say that by wood, stricken with lightning, and 
cast behind the back with one's hands, any disease 
may be removed; and, in quartanes, a piece of a nail 
from a gibbet, wrapped up in wool, and hung about 
the neck, cures them; also, a rope doth the like that 
is taken from a gallows and hid under ground so that 
the Sun cannot reach it. The throat of him that hath 
a hard swelling, or imposthume, being touched with 
the hand of him that died by an immature death, will 
be cured thereby. They say, also, that a woman is 
presently eased of her hard labor if any one shall put 
into her bed a stone or dart with which a boar or a 
bear or man hath been killed with one blow. The 
same doth a spear that is pulled out of the body of a 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 153 

man, if it shall not first touch the ground; also, they 
say, that arrows, pulled out of the body of a man, if 
they have not touched the earth, taken and stealthily 
placed under any one lying* down, will procure love. 
The falling sickness is cured by meat made of the flesh 
of a wild beast, slain in the same manner as a man is 
slain. A man's eyes that are washed three times with 
the water wherein he hath washed his feet shall never 
be sore or blear. It is said that some do cure diseases 
of the groin with thread taken out of a weaver's loom 
and t3dng into it seven or nine knots, the name of some 
widow being named at every knot. The spleen of 
cattle, extended upon painful spleens, cures them if he 
that applies it saith that he is applying a medicine to 
the spleen to cure and ease it. After this, they say, 
the patient must be shut into a sleeping room, the 
door being sealed up with a ring, and some verse be 
repeated over nineteen times. The water of a green 
lizard cures the same disease if it be hanged up in a 
vessel before the patient's bed-chamber so that he 
may, as he passes in and out, touch it with his hand. 
And a little frog climbing up a tree, if any one shall 
spit in his mouth, and then let him escape, is said to 
cure the cough. It is a wonderful thing, but easy to 
experience, that Pliny speaks of, that if any one shall 
be sorry for any blow that he hath given another, afar 
off or nigh at hand, if he shall presently spit into the 
middle of that hand with which he gave the blow, the 
party that was smitten shall presently be freed from 
pain. This hath been approved of in a four-footed 
beast that hath been sorely hurt. Some there are that 
aggravate the blow before they give it. In like man- 
ner, spittle carried in the hand, or to spit in the shoe 
of the right foot before it be put on, is good when any 
one passeth through a dangerous place. They say 
that wolves will not come to a field if one of them be 



154 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

taken and his blood let by little and little out of his 
legs, being unbroken, with a knife, and sprinkled 
about the outside of the field, and he himself be buried 
in that place from whence he was first drawn. The 
Methanenses, citizens of Trezenium, accounted it as a 
present remedy for preserving of vines from the wrong 
of the southern wind, having always found it by most 
certain experience, if, whilst the wind blows, a white 
cock should be pulled to pieces in the middle by two 
men, both of whom, each keeping his part, must walk 
each way around the vineyard, until both meet in the 
place from whence they began their circuit, and must 
in that place bury the pieces of the cock. Also, if 
any one shall hold a viper over a vapor with a staff, 
he shall prophesy, and that the staff v/herewith a 
snake was beaten is good against female diseases. 
These things Pliny recites. It is said that in gather- 
ing roots and herbs we must draw three circles round 
about them first, with a sword, and then dig them up, 
meanwhile taking heed of any contrary wind. Also, 
they say, that if any one shall measure a dead man 
with a rope, first from the elbow to the biggest finger, 
then from the shoulder to the same finger, and after- 
wards from the head to the feet, making thrice those 
mensurations; if any one afterwards shall be measured 
with the same rope, in the same manner, he shall not 
prosper, but be unfortunate and fall into misery and 
sadness. Albertus of Chyrannis saith, that if any 
woman hath enchanted thee to love her, take the 
gown she sleepeth in out of doors and spit through the 
right sleeve thereof, when the enchantment will be 
quitted. And Pliny saith, that to sit by women far 
with child, or when a medicine is given to any one of 
them, the fingers 'being joined together like the teeth 
of a comb, is a charm; so much the more if the hands 
be joined about one or both knees. Also, to sit cross 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 155 

leg"ged is sorcery; therefore it was forbidden to be 
done in the counsels of princes and rulers, as a thing- 
which hindered all acts. And, it is said, if any one 
shall stand before a man's chamber door, and call to 
him by name and the man answer, if then he fasten a 
knife or needle on the door, the edge or point being 
downward, and break it, he that be in the room shall 
be unable of his intention so long as those things 
shall be there. 



CHAPTER LII. 

Of the Countenance and Gesture, the Habit and the Figure 
of the Body, and to lohat Stars any of these do Answer — 
whence Physiognomy, and Metoposcopy, and Chiromancy, 
Arts of Divination, have their Grounds. 

The countenance, gesture, motion, setting and figure 
of the body, being accidental to us, conduce to the 
receiving of celestial gifts and expose us to the supe- 
rior bodies, which produce certain effects in us, like 
unto the effects following the methods of gathering 
hellebore, which, if thou pullest the leaf upward when 
gathering it, draws the humors upward and causeth 
vomiting; if downward, it causeth purging, drawing 
the humor downward. How much also the counte- 
nance and gesture of one person doth affect the sight, 
imagination and spirit of another no man is ignorant. 
So they that are parents discover those impressions in 
their children of their previous conditions, and that 
which they did then do, form and imagine. So a mild 
and cheerful countenance of a prince in the city makes 
the people joyful; but if it be fierce or sad doth terrify 
them. So the gesture and countenance of any one 
lamenting, doth easily move to pity. So the shape of 
an amiable person doth easily excite to friendship. 

n 



156 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Thou must know that such like gestures and figures, 
as harmonies of the body, do expose it no otherwise 
to the celestials, than odors, and the spirit of a medi- 
cine, and internal passions, also, do the soul. For as 
medicines and passions of the mind are by certain dis- 
positions of the heaven increased, so also the gesture 
and motion of the body do get an efficacy by certain 
influences of the heavens. For there are gestures 
resembling Saturn which are melancholy and sad, as 
are beating of the breast or striking of the head; also 
such as are religious, as the bowing of the knee, and a 
fixed look downwards, as of one praying; also weep- 
ing, and such like, as are used by the austere and 
Saturnine man; such an one as a satirist describes: 

With hanged down head, tvith eyes fixed to the ground, 
His raging words bites in, and muttering sound 
He doth express with pouting lips. 

A cheerful and honest countenance, a worshipful 
or noble gesture or bearing, clapping of the hands as 
of one rejoicing and praising, and the bending of the 
knee with the head lifted up, as of one that is wor- 
shiping, are ascribed to Jupiter. 

A sour, fierce, cruel, angry, rough countenance and 
gesture are ascribed to Mars. 

Solary are honorable and courageous gestures and 
countenances; also, walking abroad, a bending of the 
knee, as of one honoring a king with one knee bent. 

Those under Venus are dances, embraces, laughters, 
and those of an amiable and cheerful countenance. 

Those Mercurial are inconstant, quick, variable and 
such like gestures and countenances. 

Those Lunary, or under the Moon, are such as are 
movable, poisonous, and childish and the like. 

As we have spoken above of gestures so, also, are 
the shapes of men distinct, as follows: 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 157 

Saturn bespeaks a man to be of a black and yellow- 
ish color, lean, crooked, of a rough skin, great veins, 
the body covered with hair, little eyes, of a frowning 
forehead, a thin beard, great lips, eyes intent upon 
the ground, of a heavy gait, striking his feet together 
as he walks, crafty, witty, a seducer and murderous. 

Jupiter signifies a man to be of a pale color, darkish 
red, a handsome body, good stature, bold, of great 
eyes (not black altogether) with large pupils, short 
nostrils not equal, great teeth before, curled hair, of 
good disposition and manners. 

Mars makes a man red, with red hair, a round face, 
yellowish eyes, of a terrible and sharp look, jocund, 
bold, proud and crafty. 

The Sun- makes a man of a tawny color, betwixt 
yellow and black dashed with red, of a short stature 
yet of a handsome body, without much hair and curly, 
of yellow eyes, wise, faithful and desirous of praise. 

Venus signifies a man to be tending towards black- 
ness, but more white, with a mixture of red, a hand- 
some body, a fair and round face, fair hair, fair eyes, 
the blackness whereof is more intense, of good man- 
ners and honest love; also kind, patient and jocund. 

Mercury signifies a man not much white, or black, 
of a long face, high forehead, fair eyes, not black, to 
have a straight and long nose, thin beard, long fingers, 
to be ingenious, a subtile inquisitor, a turncoat, and 
subject to many fortunes. 

The Moon signifies a man to be in color white, mixed 
with a little red; of a fair stature, a round face, with 
some marks in it; eyes not fully black, frowning fore- 
head, and kind, gentle and sociable. 

The Signs, also, and the faces of Signs, have their 
figures and shapes which, he that would know, must 
seek them out in books of Astrology. Lastly, upon 
these figures and gestures, both Physiognomy and 



158 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Metoposcopy, arts of divination, do depend; also Chiro- 
mancy, foretelling- future events, not as causes but as 
signs, through like effects, caused by the same cause. 
And although these divers kinds of divinations may 
seem to be done by inferior and weak signs, yet the 
judgments of them are not to be slighted or condemned 
when prognostication is made by them, not out of 
superstition but by reason of the harmonical corre- 
spondency of all the parts of the body. Whosoever, 
therefore, doth the more exactly imitate the celestial 
bodies, either in nature, study, action, motion, gesture, 
countenance, passions of the mind, and opportunity of 
the season, is so much the more like to the heavenly 
bodies and can receive larger gifts from them. 



CHAPTER LIII. 

Of Divination, and the Kinds thereof. 

There are some other kinds of divinations, depend- 
ing upon natural causes, which are known to every one 
in his art and experience to be in divers things, by 
which physicians, husbandmen, shepherds, mariners, 
and others, do prognosticate out of the probable signs 
\ of every kind of divination. Many of these kinds of 
divination Aristotle made mention of in his book of 
Times, amongst which Auguria and Auspicia are the 
chiefest, which were in former time in such esteem 
amongst the Romans that they would do nothing that 
did belong to private or public business without the 
counsel of the Augures. Cicero in his Book of Divi- 
nations largely declares that the people of Tuscia 
would do nothing without this art. Now, there are 
divers kinds of Auspicias, for some are called Pedes- 
tria {i.e.), which are taken from four-footed beasts; 
some are called Auguria, which are taken from birds; 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 159 

some are Celestial, which are taken from thundering-s 
and lig-htnings; some are called Caduca (1 e.), when 
any fell in the temple, or elsewhere; some were sacred, 
which were taken from sacrifices; some of these were 
called Piacula, and sad Auspicia, as when a sacrifice 
escaped from the altar, or, being smitten, made a bel- 
lowing-, or fell upon another part of his body than he 
should. To these is added Exauguration, viz., when 
the rod fell out of the hand of the Augure with which 
it was the custom to view and take notice of the 
Auspicium. 

Michael Scotus makes mention of twelve kinds of 
Auguries, viz., six on the right hand, the names of 
which, he saith, are Fernova, Fervetus, Confert, Em- 
ponenthem, Sonnasarnova, and Sonnasarvetus; and six 
on the left hand, the names of which are Confernova, 
Confervetus, Viaram, Herrenam, Scassarnova, and 
Scassarvetus. Expounding their names, he saith: 

Fernova is an augury when thou goest out of thy 
house to do any business, and in going thou see a man 
or a bird going or flying, so that either of them set 
himself before thee upon thy left hand, that is a good 
signification in reference to thy business. 

Fervetus is an augury when thou shalt go out of thy 
house to do any business, and in going thou find or see 
a bird or a man resting himself before thee on the left 
side of thee, that is an ill sign concerning thy business. 

Viaram is an augury when a man or a bird in his 
journey, or flying, pass before thee, coming from the 
right side of thee, and, bending toward the left, go 
out of thy sight, that is a good sign concerning thy 
business. 

Confernova is an augury when thou dost first find a 
man or a bird going or flying, and then rest himself 
before thee on thy right side, thou seeing of it, that is 
a good sign concerning thy business. 



160 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Confervetus is an augury when first thou find or see 
a man or a bird bending* from thy right side, it is an 
ill sign concerning thy business. 

Scimasarnova or Sonnasarnova is when a man or a 
bird comes behind thee and outgoeth thee, but before 
he comes at thee he rests, thou seeing of him on thy 
right side, it is to thee a good sign. 

Scimasarvetus or Sonnasarvetus is when thou see a 
man or bird behind thee, but before he comes to thee 
he rests in that place, thou seeing of it, is a good sign. 

Confert is an augury when a man or bird in journey- 
ing or flying shall pass behind thee, coming from the 
left side of thee, and, bending toward thy right, pass 
out of thy sight, and is an evil sign concerning thy 
business. 

Scassarvetus is when thou see a man or a bird pass 
by thee, and resting in a place on thy left side, is an 
evil sign to thee. 

Scassarnova is when thou see a man or a bird pass 
by thee, and resting in a place on thy right side, is an 
augury of good to thee. 

Emponenthem is when a man or a bird, coming from 
thy left side, and passing to thy right, goeth out of 
thy sight without resting, and is a good sign. 

Hartena or Herrenam is an augury that, if a man or 
a bird coming from thy right hand, shall pass behind 
thy back to thy left,^and thou shall see him resting 
anywhere, this is in evil sign. 

The ancients did also prognosticate from sneezings, 
of which Homer in the seventeenth book of his poem 
of the Odyssey makes mention, because they thought 
that they proceeded from a sacred place, viz., the 
head, in which the intellect is vigorous and operative. 
"Whence, also, whatsoever speech came into the breast 
or mind of a man rising in the morning, unawares, is 
said to be some presage and an augury. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 161 

CHAPTER LIV. 

Of divers certain Animals, and other things, which have a 
Signification in Auguries. 

All the Auspicia, or auspices, which first happen 
in the beginning" of any enterprise are to be taken 
notice of. As, if in the beginning of thy work thou 
shalt perceive that rats have gnawn thy garments, 
desist from thy undertakings. If going forth thou 
shalt stumble at the threshold, or if in the way thou 
shalt dash thy foot against any thing, forbear thy 
journey. If any ill omen happen in the beginning of 
thy business, put off thy undertakings, lest thy inten- 
tions be wholly frustrated, or accomplished to no pur- 
pose, but expect and wait for a fortunate hour for the 
dispatching of thy affairs with a better omen. We 
see that many animals are, by a natural power imbred 
in them, prophetical. Doth not the cock by his crow- 
ing diligently tell you the hours of the night and 
morning, and, with his wings spread forth, chase away 
the lion? Many birds, with their singing and chatter- 
ing, and flies, by their sharp pricking, foretell rain; 
and dolphins, by their often leaping above the water, 
warn of tempests. It would be too long to relate all 
the passages which the Phrygians, Cilicians, Arabians, 
Umbrians, Tuscians, and other peoples, which follow 
the auguries, have learned by birds. These they have 
proved by many experiments and examples. For in 
all things the Oracles of things to come are hid, but 
those are the chiefest which omenal birds shall fore- 
tell. These are those which the poets relate were 
turned from men into birds. Therefore, what the daw 
declares, hearken unto and mark, observing her set- 
ting as she sits; and her manner of flying, whether on 
the right hand or left; whether clamorous or silent; 
whether she goes before or follows after; whether she 



162 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

waits for the approach of him that passeth by, or flies 
from him, and which way she goes. All these things 
must be diligently observed. Orus Apollo saith in his 
Hieroglyphics that daws that are twins signify mar- 
riage, because this bird brings forth two eggs, out of 
which male and female must be brought forth; but if, 
which seldom happens, two males be generated, or 
two females, the males will not go with any other 
females, nor females with any other males, but will 
always live without a mate, and solitary. Therefore 
they that meet a single daw, divine thereby that they 
shall live a single life. The same also doth a black 
hen pigeon betoken, for after the death of her mate, 
she always lives single. Thou shalt, also, as carefully 
observe crows, which are as significant as daws, yea, 
and in greater matters. It was Epictetus the Stoics' 
philosopher's judgment, who was a sage author, that 
if a crow did croak over against any one, it did betoken 
some evil, either to his body, fortune, honor, wife, or 
children. Then thou shall take heed to swans, who 
foreknow the secrets of the waters, for their cheerful- 
ness doth presage happy events not only to mariners, 
but all other travelers, unless they be overcome by 
the coming over of a stronger bird, as of an eagle, 
who, by the most potent majesty of her sovereignty, 
makes null the predictions of all other birds if she 
speaks to the contrary; for she flies higher than all 
other birds, and is of more acute sight, and is never 
excluded from the secrets of Jupiter; she portends 
advancement and victory, but by blood, because she 
drinks no water but blood. An eagle flying over the 
Locresians, fighting against the Crotoniensians, gave 
them victory; an eagle setting herself unawares upon 
the target of Hiero, going forth to the first war, be- 
tokened that he should be king. Two eagles sitting 
all day upon the house at the birth of Alexander, of 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 163 

Macedonia, did portend to him an omen of two king- 
doms, viz., Asia and Europe. . An eagle, also, taking off 
the hat of Lucias Tarquinius Prisons, son to Demara- 
thus the Corinthian (and, by reason of some discord, 
being come into Hetraria and going to Rome) and then 
flying high with it, and afterwards putting it upon his 
head again, did portend to him the kingdom of the 
Romans. Vultures signify difficulty, hardness, and 
ravenousness, which was verified in the beginning of 
the building of cities. Also they foretell the places of 
slaughter, coming seven days beforehand; and because 
they have most respect to that place where the great- 
est slaughter shall be, as if they gaped after the 
greatest number of the slain, therefore the ancient 
kings were wont to send out spies to take notice what 
place the vultures had most respect to. The phoenix 
promiseth singular good success, which being seen 
anew, Rome was built very auspiciously. The pelican, 
because she hazards herself for her young, signifies 
that a man should, out of the zeal of his love, undergo 
much hardship. The painted bird gave the name to the 
city of Pictavia, and foreshowed the lenity of that peo- 
ple by its color and voice. The heron is an augury of 
hard things. The stork also is a bird of concord and 
makes concord. Cranes gives us notice of the treach- 
ery of enemies. The bird cacupha betokens gratitude, 
for she alone doth express love to her dam, being spent 
with old age. On the contrary, the hippopotamus, that 
kills his dam, doth betoken ingratitude for good turns, 
also injustice. The bird origis is most envious, and 
betokens envy. 

Amongst the smaller birds, the pie is talkative and 
foretells guests. The bird albanellus flying by anyone, 
if from the left to the right, betokens cheerfulness of 
entertainment; if contrary wise, betokens the contrary. 
The screech owl is always unlucky, so also is the horn 



164 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

owl, who, because she goes to her young by night, 
unawares, as death comes unawares, is therefore said 
to foretell death; yet, sometimes, because she is not 
blind in the dark of the night, doth betoken diligence 
and watchfulness, which she made good when she sat 
upon the spear of Hiero. And Dido, when she saw the 
unlucky owl, pitied ^neas, whence the poet sang: 

The Owl, sitting on top of the house alone, 

Sends forth her sad complaints with mournful tone. 

And in another place. 

The slothful Oivl by mortals is esteemed 
A fatal omen 

The same bird sang in the capitol when the Roman 
affairs were low at Numantia and when Fregelia was 
pulled down for a conspiracy made against the Romans. 
Almadel says that owls and night-ravens, when they 
turn aside to strange countries, or houses, betoken the 
death of the men of that country and those houses, for 
those birds are delighted with dead carcasses and 
perceive them beforehand. For men that are dying 
have a near affinity with dead carcasses. The hawk 
is also a foreteller of contention, as Naso sings: 

We hate the Hawk, because that arms amongst 
She always lives 

Lelius, the embassador of Pompey, was slain in 
Spain, amongst the purveyors, which misfortune, a 
hawk flying over the head, is said to foretell. And 
Almadel saith that these kinds of birds fighting 
amongst themselves, signify the change of a kingdom; 
but if birds of another kind shall fight with them and 
are never seen to come together again, it portends a 
new condition and state of that country. Also, little 
birds, by their coming to or departing from, foreshew 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL, MAGIC. 165 

that a family shall be increased or lessened; and their 
flight, by how much the more serene it is, by so much 
the more laudable shall the change be. Whence did 
Melampus, the Augure, conjecture at the slaughter of 
the Greeks by the flight of little birds, when he saith: 
"Thou see now that no bird takes his flight in fair 
weather. " Swallows, because when they are dying 
they provide a place of safety for their young, do 
portend a great patrimony or legacy after the death of 
friends. A bat, meeting any one running away, signi- 
fies an evasion; for, although she have no wings, yet 
she flies. A sparrow is a bad omen to one that runs 
away, for she flies from the hawk and makes haste to 
the owl, where she is in as great danger; yet in love 
she is fortunate, for being stirred up with affection she 
seeks her consort hourly. Bees are a good omen to 
kings, for they signify an obsequious people. Flies 
signify importunity and impudence because being often- 
times driven away they do continually return. Also 
domestic birds are not without some auguries, for 
cocks, by their crowing, promote hope, and the jour- 
ney of him that is undertaking it. Moreover, Livia, 
the mother of Tiberius, when she was great w^ith him, 
took a hen's egg and hatched it in her bosom, and at 
length came forth a cock chick with a great comb, 
which the auguries interpreted that the child that 
should be born of her should be a king. And Cicero 
writes that at Thebais, cocks, by their crowing all 
night, did presage that the Baeotians would obtain 
victory against the Lacedaemonians, and the reason is 
according to the augury's interpretations because that 
bird when he is beaten is silent, but when he himself 
hath overcome, crows. In like manner, also, omens of 
events are taken from beasts. For the meeting of a 
weasel is ominous; also, the meeting of a hare is an ill 
omen to a traveler, unless she be taken. A mule also 



166 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

is bad because barren. A hog" is pernicious, for such 
is his nature, and therefore signifies pernicious men. 
A horse betokens quarrelings and fightings, whence 
Anchises, seeing of white horses, cries out in Virgil: 

With war are Horses arm^d, yea, threaten war. 

But when they are joined together in a chariot, 
because they draw with an equal yoke, they signify 
that peace is to be hoped for. An ass is an unprofit- 
able creature, yet did Marius good, w^ho, when he was 
pronounced an enemy to his country, saw an ass dis- 
daining provender that was offered to him, and running 
to the water, by which augury he, supposing he saw a 
way of safety showed to him, entreated the aid of his 
friends that they would convey him to the sea, which 
being granted, he was set into a little ship and so 
escaped the threats of Silla the conqueror. If the 
foal of an ass meet any one going to an augury, he 
signifies labor, patience and hinderances. A wolf 
meeting any one is a good sign, the effect whereof was 
seen in Hiero of Sicilia, from whom a wolf, snatching 
away a book whilst he was at school, confirmed to him 
the success of the kingdom, but yet the wolf makes 
him speechless whom he sees first. A wolf rent in 
pieces a watchman of P. Africanus and C. Fulvius at 
Minturn, when the Roman army was overcome by the 
fugitives in Sicilia. He signifies perfidious men, such 
as you can give no credit to, which was known in the 
progeny of Romans. For the faith which they long 
since sucked from their mother the wolf and kept to 
themselves from the beginning, as by a certain law of 
nature, passed over to their posterity. To meet a lion, 
seeing she is amongst animals the strongest and 
striking terror into all the rest, is good. But for a 
woman to meet a lioness is bad, because she hinders 
conception, for a lioness brings forth but once. To 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 167 

meet sheep and goats is g"ood. It is read in the Osten- 
tarian of the Tuscians, if this animal shall wear any- 
unusual color, it portends to the emperor plenty of all 
things, together with much happiness. Whence Virgil 
to Pollio sings thus: 

But, in the meadoivs, Bams shall scarlet dear, 
And changing, sometimes golden fleeces ivear. 

It is good also to meet oxen treading out corn, but 
better to meet them plowing, which although breaking 
the way, hinder thy journey, yet by the favor of their 
Auspicium will recompense thee again. A dog in a 
journey is fortunate, because Cyrus, being cast into the 
woods, was nourished by a dog until he came to the 
kingdom; which, also, the angel, companion of Tobit, 
did not scorn as a companion. The castor, because 
he biteth himself sorely, so as to be seen by hunters, 
is an ill omen and portends that a man will injure him- 
self. Also, amongst small animals, mice signify dan- 
ger, for the same day that they did gnaw gold in the 
capitol, both the consuls were intercepted by Hannibal 
by way of ambush, near Tarentum. The locust mak- 
ing a stand in any place, or burning the place, hinders 
one from their wishes and is an ill omen; and on the 
contrary the grasshopper promotes a journey and 
foretells a good event of things. The spider weaving 
a line downwards, is said to signify hope of money to 
come. Also the ants, because they know how to pro- 
vide for themselves, and to prepare safe nests for 
themselves, portend security and riches, and a great 
army. Hence, when the ants had devoured a tame 
dragon of Tiberius Caesar, it was advised that he 
should take heed of the tumult of a multitude. If a 
snake meet thee, take heed of an ill-tongued enemy; 
for this creature hath no power but in his mouth. A 
snake creeping into the palace of Tiberius, portended 



168 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

his fall. Two snakes were found in the bed of Sem- 
pronius Glracchus, wherefore a soothsayer told him, if 
he would let the male or the female escape, either he 
Or his wife would shortly die; and he, preferring" the 
life of his wife, killed the male and let the female go, 
and within a few days he died. So a viper signifies 
lewd women and wicked children; and an eel signifies 
a man displeased with everybody, for she lives apart 
from all other fishes, nor is ever found in the company 
of any. But, among"st all Auguries and Omens, there 
is none more effectual and potent than man himself, 
and none that doth signify the truth more clearly. 
Thou shalt, therefore, diligently note and observe the 
condition of the man that meeteth thee, his age, pro- 
fession, station, stature, gesture, motion, exercise, 
complexion, habit, name, words, speech, and all such 
like things. For seeing there are in all other animals 
so many discoveries of presages, without all question 
these are more efficacious and clear which are infused 
into man's soul; which Tully himself testifies, saying, 
that there is a certain Auspicium naturally in men's 
souls of their eternity, for the knowing of the courses 
and causes of things. In the foundation of the city 
of Rome the head of a man was found with his whole 
face, which did presage the greatness of the empire, 
and gave the name to the Mountain of the Capitol. 
The Brutian soldiers fighting against Octavius and 
Antonius, found an Ethiopian in the gate of their 
castle, and though they slew him as a presage of ill 
success, yet they were unfortunate in battle, and both 
their generals, Brutus and Cassius, were slain. 

The meeting of monks is commonly accounted an 
ill omen, and so much the rather if it be early in the 
morning, because these kind of men live for the most 
by the sudden death of men, as vultures do by 
slaughters. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 169 

CHAPTER LV. 

How Auspicias are Verified by the Light of Natural Instinct^ 
and of some Rules of Finding of It Out. 

AusPiciA and Auguria, which foretell thing-s to come 
by animals and birds, Orpheus, the divine, himself, as 
we read, did teach and show first of all, which after- 
wards were had in great esteem with all nations. 
Now they are verified by the light of natural instinct, 
as if from this some lights of divination may descend 
upon four-footed beasts, those winged, and other crea- 
tures, by which they are able to presage to us of the 
events of things; which Virgil seems to be sensible of 
when he sings: 

Nor think I Heaven on them such knowledge states, 
Nor that their prudence is above the Fates. 

Now, this Instinct of Nature, as saith William of 
Paris, is more sublime than all human apprehension, 
and very near, and most like to prophecy. By this 
instinct there is a certain wonderful light of divination 
in some animals naturally, as is manifested in some 
dogs, who know thieves by this instinct and men that 
are hid, unknown both to themselves and men, and find 
them out and apprehend them, falling upon them with 
a full mouth. By the like instinct vultures foresee 
future slaughters in battles, and gather together into 
places where they shall be, as if they foresaw the 
flesh of dead carcasses. By the same instinct par- 
tridges know their dam, whom they never saw, and 
leave the partridge which stole away her dam's eggs 
and sate upon them. By the same instinct, also, cer- 
tain hurtful and terrible things are perceived, the soul 
being ignorant of them, whence terror and horror 
ceaseth when men think nothing of these things. So 
a thief, lying hid in a house, although no one knows 



170 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

or thinks of his being there, strikes fear and terror 
and a troublesomeness of mind into the inhabitants of 
that house, although, haply, not of all, because the 
brightness of this instinct is not common to all men, 
yet possessed of some of them. So an evil person, 
being hid in some large building, is sometimes per- 
ceived to be there by some one that is altogether igno- 
rant of their being there. It is mentioned in history 
that Heraiscus, a certain Egyptian, a man of a divine 
nature, could discern evil persons, not only by his eyes 
but also by their voice, he hearing them afar off, and 
thereupon did fall into a most grievous headache. 
William of Paris also makes mention of a certain 
woman in his time that, by the same instinct, per- 
ceived a man whom she loved coming two miles off. 
He relates, also, that in his time a certain stork was 
convicted of unchastity by the smell of the male, who, 
being judged guilty by a multitude of storks whom the 
male gathered together, discovering to them the fault 
of his mate, was, her feathers being pulled off, torn in 
pieces by them. The same doth Varro, Aristotle and 
Pliny relate concerning horses. And Pliny makes 
mention of a certain serpent, called the asp, that did 
such a like thing, for she, coming to a certain man's 
table in Egypt, was there daily fed, and she, having 
brought forth some young, by one of which a son of 
her host was killed, after she knew of it, killed that 
young one, and would never return to that house any 
more. Now, by these examples, you see how the 
lights of presage may descend upon some animals, as 
signs, or marks of things, and are set in their gesture, 
motion, voice, flying, going, meat, color, and such like. 
For, according to the doctrine of the Platonists, there 
is a certain power put into inferior things by which, for 
the most part, they agree with the superiors; whence 
also the tacit consents of animals seem to agree with 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 171 

divine bodies, and their bodies and affections to be 
affected with their powers, by the name of which they 
are ascribed to the deities. We must consider, there- 
fore, what animals are Saturnine, what are Jovial and 
what Martial, and so of the rest; and, according" to 
their properties, to draw forth their presages; so those 
birds which resemble Saturn and Mars, are all of them 
called terrible and deadly, as the screech owl, the 
hawlet, and others which we have mentioned before; 
also the horn owl, because she is a Saturnine, solitary 
bird, also nightly, and is reputed to be most unfortu- 
nately ominous, of which the poet saith: 

The ugly Owl, ivhich no bird ivell resents, 
Foretells misfortunes and most sad events. 

But the swan is a delicious bird, under Venus, and 
dedicated to Phoebus, and is said to be most happy in 
her presages, especially in the auspices of mariners, 
for she is never drowned in water, whence Ovid sings: 

Most happy is the cheerful, singing Swan 
In her presages 

There are also some birds that presage with their 
mouth and singing, as the crow, pie, and daw, whence 
Virgil : 

This did foreshow 

Oft from the hollow holm that ominous Crow. 

Now, the birds that portend future things by their 
flying are, viz., buzzards, the bone -breakers, vultures, 
eagles, cranes, swans, and the like, for they are to be 
considered in their flying, whether they fly slowly or 
swiftly; whether to the right hand or to the left; how 
many fly together. Upon this account, if cranes fly 
apace, they signify a tempest; and, when slowly, fair 
weather. When two eagles fly together, they are said 

12 



172 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

to portend evil, because two is a number of confusion. 
In like manner thou shalt enquire into the reason of 
the rest, as this is shown by number. Moreover, it 
belongs to an artist to observe a similitude in these 
conjectures, as in Virgil, Venus, dissembling, teacheth 
her son, ^neas, in these verses: 

All this is not for naught, 



Else me in vain my parents Augury taught; 

Lo! twice six Swans in a glad company 

Jove^s bird pursued through the etherial Sky 

In Heaven'' s broad tracks; noiv earth in a long train 

They seem to take, or taken, to disdain; 

As they return with sounding wings they sport, 

And Heaven surrounding in a long consort. 

Just so, I say, thy friends and fleet have gained 

The port, or with full sails the Bay obtained. 

Most wonderful is that kind of auguring of theirs, 
who hear and understand the speeches of animals, in 
which, as amongst the ancients, Melampus, Tirefias, 
Thales, and Apollonius, the Tyanean, who, as we read, 
excelled, and whom, they report, had excellent skill in 
the language of birds; of whom Philostratus and Por- 
phyrins speak, saying, that of old, when Apollonius 
sat in company amongst his friends, seeing sparrows 
sitting upon a tree, and one sparrow coming from else- 
where unto them, making a great chattering and noise, 
and then flying away, all the rest following him, he 
said to his companions that that sparrow told the rest 
that an ass, being burdened with wheat, fell down in 
a hole near the city and that the wheat was scattered 
upon the ground. Many, being much moved with these 
words, went to see, and so it was, as Apollonius said, 
at which they much wondered. Porphyrins, the Pla- 
tonist, in his third book of sacrifices, saith that there 
is certainly a swallow language, because every voice 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 173 

of every animal is significative of some passion of its 
soul, as joy, sadness, or anger, or the like, which 
voices, it is not so wonderful a thing, could be under- 
stood by men conversant about them. But Democritus 
himself declared this art, as saith Pliny, by naming 
the birds, of whose blood mixed together was produced 
a serpent, of which whosoever did eat should under- 
stand the voices of birds. And Hermes saith that if 
any one shall go forth to catch birds on a certain day 
of the Kalends of November, and shall boil the first 
bird that he catcheth with the heart of a fox, that all 
that shall eat of this bird shall understand the voices 
of birds and all other animals. Also, the Arabians 
say that they can understand the meaning of brutes 
who shall eat the heart and liver of a dragon. Pro- 
clus, also, the Platonist, believed and wrote that the 
heart of a mole conduceth to presages. There were 
also divinations and auspices which were taken from 
the inwards of sacrifices, the inventor whereof was 
Tages, of whom Lucan sang: 

And if the Inwards have no credit gained, 
And if this Art hy Tages was hut feigned. 

The Roman religion thought that the liver was the 
head of the inwards. Hence the soothsayers enquir- 
ing after future things in the inwards, did first look 
into the liver, in which were two heads, whereof the 
one was called the head for the city, the other for the 
enemy; and the heads of this, or another part, being 
compared together, they then gave judgment and pro- 
nounced for victory; as we read, in Lucan, that the 
inwards did signify the slaughter of Pompey's men 
and the victory of Caesar's, according to these verses: 

In the imuards all defects are ominous — 

One part and branch of the entrails doth increase. 



174 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Another part is weak, and flagging lies, 
Beats, and moves with quick pulse the arteries. 

Then, the bowels being finished, they search the 
heart. Now, if there were a sacrifice found without a 
heart, or a head was wanting in the liver, these were 
deadly presages, and were called piacularia. Also, if 
a sacrifice fled from the altar, or, being smitten, made 
a lowing, or fell upon any part of his body than he 
ought to do, it was the like ominous. We read that 
when Julius Caesar on a day went forth to procession 
with his purple robe, and sitting in a golden chair and 
sacrificing, there was twice a heart wanting. When 
C. Marius Utica was sacrificing, there was wanting a 
liver. Also when Caius, the prince, and M. Marcellus, 
C. Claudius and L. Petellius Coss, were offering sacri- 
fices, that the liver was consumed suddenly away and, 
not long after, one of them died of a disease, another 
was slain by men of Lyguria, the entrails foretelling 
so much; which was thought to be done by the power 
of the Gods, or help of the devil. Hence it was 
accounted a thing of great concernment amongst the 
ancients as oft as any thing unusual was found in the 
inwards, as when Sylla was sacrificing at Laurentum, 
the figure of a crown appeared in the head of the liver, 
which Posthumius, the soothsayer, interpreted to por- 
tend a victory with a kingdom, and therefore advised 
that Sylla should eat those entrails himself. The 
color, also, of the inwards is to be considered. Of 
these Lucan made mention: 

Struck at the color Prophets ivere tvith fear, 
For with foul spots pale entrals tinged were. 
Both black and blue, tvith specks of sprinkled blood 
They were 

There was in times past such a venerable esteem of 
these arts that the most potent and wise men sought 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 175 

after them; yea, the senate and kings did nothing- 
without the counsel of the Augures. But all these in 
these days are abolished, partly by the negligence of 
men and partly by the authority of the fathers. 



CHAPTER LVI. 

Of the Soothsayings of Flashes and Lightnings, and how 
Monstrous and Prodigious Things are to be Interpreted. 

Now, the soothsayings of flashes and lightnings; 
and of wonders, and how monstrous and prodigious 
things are to be interpreted, the prophets and priests 
of Hetruscus have taught the art. For they have 
ordained sixteen regions of the heavens and have 
ascribed Gods to every one of them, besides eleven 
kinds of lightning, and nine gods which should dart 
them forth, by showing rules for understanding the 
signification of them. But as often as monstrous, 
prodigious and wondrous things happen, they do 
presage, as is most certain, some great matter. Now, 
their interpreter must be some excellent conjector of 
similitudes, as also some curious searcher, and of them 
who at that time are employed about the affairs of 
princes and provinces. For the celestials take such 
care only for princes, peoples and provinces that 
before the rest they might be prefigured and admon- 
ished by stars, by constellations and by prodigies. 
Now, if the same thing, or the like, hath been seen in 
former ages, we must consider that very thing and 
what happened after that, and according to these, to 
fortell the same, or the like, because the same signs 
are for the same things, and the like for like. So 
prodigies have come before the birth and death of 
many eminent men and kings, as Cicero makes men- 
tion of Midas, a boy, into whose mouth whilst he was 



176 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

sleeping", the ant put corns of wheat, which was an 
omen of great riches. So bees sat upon the mouth of 
Plato when he was sleeping in the cradle, by which 
was foretold the sweetness of his speech. Hecuba, 
when she was bringing forth Paris, saw a burning 
torch, which should set on fire Troy and all Asia. 
There appeared unto the mother of Phalaris the image 
of Mercury pouring forth blood upon the earth, with 
which the whole house was overflowed. The mother 
of Dionysius dreamed she brought forth a satyr, 
which prodigious dream the event that followed made 
good. The wife of Tarquinius Priscus, seeing a flame 
lick the head of Servius Tullius, foretold that he 
should have the kingdom. In like manner, after Troy 
was taken, ^neas disputing with Anchises, his father, 
concerning a fight, there appeared a flame licking the 
head of the crown of Ascanius and doing him no hurt. 
Which thing, seeing it did portend the kingdom to 
Ascanius, persuaded him to depart, for monstrous pro- 
digies did forerun great and eminent destruction. So 
we read in Pliny that M. Attilius and C. Portius, being 
consuls, it rained milk and blood, which did presage 
that a very great pestilence should the next year over- 
spread Kome. In Lucania it rained spongeous iron, 
and in the year before Marcus Crassus was slain in 
Parthia, with which, also, all the soldiers of Lucania, 
being a very numerous army, were slain. L. Paulus 
and C. Marcellus, being consuls, it rained wool about 
the castle of Corisanum, near which place, a year after, 
T. Annius was slain by Milus. And in the wars of 
Denmark, the noise of arms and the sound of a trumpet 
was heard in the air. And Livy, concerning the Mace- 
donian wars, saith, in the year when Annibal died it 
rained blood for two days. Concerning the second 
Punic war, he saith that water mixed with blood came 
down from heaven like rain at the time when Annibal 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 177 

did spoil Italy. A little before the destruction of 
Leuctra, the Lacedemonians heard a noise of arms in 
the temple of Hercules, and at the same time in the 
temple of Hercules the doors that were shut with bars 
opened themselves, and the arms that were hanged on 
the wall were found on the ground. The like events 
may be prognosticated of other like things, as often- 
times in times past something hath been foretold of 
them. But concerning these, also, the judgments of 
the celestial influences must not be neglected, concern- 
ing which we shall more largely treat in the following 
chapters. 



CHAPTER LVII. 

Of Geomancy^ Hydromancij, Aeromancy, and Pyromancy, 
Four Divinations of Elements. 

Moreover, the Elements themselves teach us fatal 
events; whence those four famous kinds of divinations, 
Geomancy, Hydromancy, Aeromancy, and Pyromancy, 
have got their names, of which the sorceress in Lucan 
seems to boast herself when she saith; 

The Earth, the Aire, the Chaos, and the SMe, 

The Seas, the Fields, the Rocks, and Mountains high 

Foretell the truth 

The first, therefore, is Geomancy, which foreshows 
future things by the motions of the earth, as also the 
noise, the swelling, the trembling, the chops, the pits, 
and exhalation, and other impressions thereof, the art 
of which Almadel, the Arabian, sets forth. But there 
is another kind of Geomancy which divines b}^ points 
written upon the earth by a certain power in the fall 
of it, which is not of present speculation, but of that 
we shall speak hereafter. 



178 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

Now Hydromancy doth perform its presages by the 
impressions of waters, their ebbing and flowing, their 
increases and depressions, their tempests, colors, and 
the like; to which, also, are added visions which are 
made in the waters. A kind of divination found by 
the Persians, as Varro reports, was that of a boy who 
saw in the water the effigies of Mercury, which fore- 
told, in a hundred and fifty verses, all the events of 
the war of Mithridates. We read, also, that Numa 
Pompilius practiced Hydromancy, for in the water he 
called up the gods and learned of them things to come. 
Which art also Pythagoras, a long time after Numa, 
practiced. There was of old a kind of Hydromancy 
had in great esteem amongst the Assyrians, and it was 
called Lecanomancy, from a skin full of water, upon 
which they put plates of gold and silver and precious 
stones written upon with certain images, names and 
characters. To this may be referred that art by which 
lead and wax, being melted and cast into the water, do 
express manifest marks of images of those things we 
desire to know. There were also in former years 
fountains that did foretell things to come, as the 
fathers' fountain at Achaia, and that which was called 
the water of Juno, in Epidaurus; but of these more in 
the following chapter, where we shall speak of Oracles. 

Hither also may be referred the divination of fishes, 
of which kind there was use made by the Lycians in a 
certain place which was called Dina, near the sea; in 
a wood dedicated to Apollo, was a hollow in the dry 
sand, into which he that went to consult of future 
things let down roasted meat, and presently that place 
was filled with water and a great multitude of fish, and 
strange shapes, unknown to men, did appear; by the 
forms of which the prophet foretold what should come 
to pass. These things doth Atheneus more at large 
relate in the history of the Lycians. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. . 179 

After the same manner, also, doth Aeromancy divine 
by airy impressions, by the blowing of the winds, by 
rainbows, by circles round about the moon and stars, 
by mists and clouds, and by imaginations in clouds and 
visions in the air. 

So also Pyromancy divines by fiery impressions, and 
by stars with long tails, by fiery colors, by visions and 
imaginations in the fire. So the wife of Cicero fore- 
told that he would be consul the next year because, 
when a certain man, after the sacrifice was ended, 
would look in the ashes, there suddenly broke forth a 
flame. Of this kind are those that Pliny speaks of — ■ 
that terrene, pale and buzzing fires presage tempests, 
circles about the snuffs of candles betoken rain, and if 
the flame fly, turning and winding, it portends wind. 
Also torches, when they strike the fire before them and 
are not kindled. Also when a coal sticks to a pot 
taken off from the fire, and when the fire casts off the 
ashes and sparkles; or when ashes are hard grown 
together on the hearth, and when a coal is very bright. 

To these is also added Capnomancy, so called from 
smoke, because it searcheth into the flame and smoke; 
and thin colors, sounds and motions when they are car- 
ried upright, or on one side, or round, which we read 
of in these verses in Statius. 

Let Piety &e bound, and on the Altar laid, 

Let us implore the Gods for divine aid. 

She makes acute, red, towring flames, and bright^ 

Increased by th^ aire, the middle being white; 

And then she makes the flames toithout all bound, 

For to ivind in and out, and to run round 

Like a Serpent 

Also in the ^thnean Caves and Fields of the 
Nymphs in Apollonia, auguries were taken from fires 
and flames — joyful, if they did receive what was cast 



180 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

into them, and sad, if they did reject them. But of 
these things we shall speak of in the following chap- 
ters, amongst the answers of the Oracles. 



CHAPTER LVIII. 

Of the Reviving of the Dead, and of Sleeping or Hibernat- 
ing (wanting victuals) Many Years together. 

The Arabian philosophers agree that some men may 
elevate themselves above the powers of their body and 
above their sensitive powers; and, those being sur- 
mounted, they receive into themselves — by the perfec- 
tion of the Heavens and the Celestial Intelligences — a 
Divine Vigor. Seeing, therefore, that all the Souls of 
men are perpetual, and, also, that all the Spirits obey 
the perfect Souls, Magicians think that perfect men 
may, by the powers of their soul, repair their dying 
bodies (with other inferior souls, newly separated) and 
inspire them again: As a weasel, that is killed, is 
made alive again by the breath and cry of his dam; 
and as lions make alive their dead whelps by breath- 
ing upon them. And because, as they say, all like 
things, being applied to their like, are made of the 
same natures; and, also, every patient, subject, and 
thing that receives into itself the act of any agent is 
endowed with the nature of that agent and made co- 
natural with it. Hence they think that to this vivifi- 
cation, or making alive, certain herbs, and Magical 
confections (such as, they say, are made of the ashes 
of the PhcBnix and the cast skin of a Snake) do much 
conduce; which, indeed, to many may seem fabulous, 
and to some impossible, unless it could be accounted 
approved by an historical faith. For we read of some 
that have been drowned in water, others cast into the 
fire or put upon the fire, others slain in war, and others 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 181 

otherwise tried, and all these, after a few days, were 
alive again, as Pliny testifies of Aviola, a man per- 
taining" to the consul, of L. Lamia, Cselinus, Tubero, 
Corfidius, Gabienus, and many others. We read that 
^sop, the tale-maker, Tindoreus, Hercules and Palicy, 
the sons of Jupiter, and Thalia, being dead, were 
raised to life again; also that many were, by phy- 
sicians and magicians, raised from death again, as the 
historians relate of -^sculapius; and we have above 
mentioned, out of Juba, and Xanthus and Philostratus, 
concerning Tillo, and a certain Arabian, and Apollo- 
nius the Tyanean. Also we read that Glaucus, a cer- 
tain man that was dead, the herb dragon-wort restored 
to life. Some say that he revived by the putting into 
his body a medicine made -of honey, whence the prov- 
erb, Glaucus was raised from death by taking honey 
into his body. Apuleius, also, relating the manner of 
these kinds of restorings to life, saith of Zachla, the 
Egyptian prophet, that the prophet, being favorable, 
laid a certain herb upon the mouth of the body of a 
young man, being dead, and another upon his breast; 
then, turning toward the East, or rising of the propi- 
tious Sun, he prayed silently (a great assembly of peo- 
ple striving to see it), when, in the first place, the 
breast of the dead man did heave, then a beating in 
his veins, then his body filled with breath, after which 
the body rose and the young man spoke. If these 
accounts are true, the dying souls must, sometimes 
lying hid in their bodies, be oppressed with vehement 
extasies and be freed from all bodily action; so that 
the life, sense, and motion forsake the body, and also 
that the man is not yet truly dead, but lies astonied, 
and dead, as it were, for a certain time. And this is 
often found, that in times of pestilence many that are 
carried for dead to the graves to be buried, revive 
again. The same also hath often befell women by 



182 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

reason of fits of the mother. And Rabbi Moises, out 
of the book of Galen, which Patriarcha translated, 
makes mention of a man who was suffocated for six 
days, and did neither eat nor drink, and his arteries 
became hard. And it is said, in the same book, that a 
certain man, being filled with water, lost the pulse of 
his whole body, so that the heart was not perceived to 
move, and he lay like a dead man. It is also said that 
a man, by reason of a fall from a high place, or great 
noise, or long staying under the water, may fall into 
a swoon, which may continue forty-eight hours, and so 
may lay as if he were dead, his face being very green. 
And in the same place there is mention made of a man 
that buried a man, who seemed to be dead, seventy-two 
hours after his seeming decease, and so killed him 
because he buried him alive; and there are given signs 
whereby it may be known who are alive, although they 
seem to be dead, and, indeed, will die, unless there be 
some means used to recover them, as phlebotomy, or 
some other cure. And these are such as very seldom 
happen. This is the manner by which we understand 
magicians and physicians do raise dead men to life, as 
they that were tried by the stinging of serpents, were, 
by the nation of the Marsi and the Psilli, restored to 
life. We may conceive that such kind of extasies may 
continue a long time, although a man be not truly 
dead, as it is in dormice and crocodiles and many other 
serpents, which sleep all winter, and are in such a dead 
sleep that they can scarce be awakened with fire. 
And I have often seen a dormouse dissected and con- 
tinue immovable, as if she were dead, until she was 
boiled, and when put into boiling water the dissected 
members did show life. And, although it be hard to 
be believed, we read in some approved historians, 
that some men have slept for many years together; 
and, in the time of sleep until they awaked, there was 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 183 

no alteration in them so as to make them seem older. 
The same doth Pliny testify of a certain boy, whom, 
he saith, being wearied with heat and his journey, 
slept fifty-seven years in a cave. We read, also, that 
Epimenides Gnosius slept fifty-seven years in a cave. 
Hence the proverb arose — to outsleep Epimenides. 
M. Damascenus tells that in his time a certain country- 
man in Germany, being* wearied, slept for the space of 
a whole autumn and the winter following-, under a 
heap of hay, until the summer, when the hay began 
to be eaten up; then he was found awakened as a man 
half dead and out of his wits. Ecclesiastical histories 
confirm this opinion concerning the seven sleepers, 
whom they say slept 196 years. There was in Nor- 
vegia a cave in a high sea shore, where, as Paulus 
Diaconus and Methodius, the martyr, write, seven men 
lay sleeping a long time without corruption, and the 
people that went in to disturb them were contracted, 
or drawn together, so that after a while, being fore- 
warned by that punishment, they dared not disturb 
them. Xenocrates, a man of no mean repute amongst 
philosophers, was of the opinion that this long sleep- 
ing was appointed by God as a punishment for some 
certain sins. But Marcus Damascenus proves it, by 
many reasons, to be possible and natural, neither doth 
he think it irrational that some should, without meat 
and drink, avoiding excitements, and without consum- 
ing or corruption, sleep many months. And this may 
befall a man by reason of some poisonous potion, or 
sleepy disease, or such like causes, for certain days, 
months or years, according to the intention or remis- 
sion of the power of the medicine, or of the passions 
of their mind. Physicians say that there are some 
antidotes, of which they that take too great a potion 
shall be able to endure hunger a long time; as Elias, in 
former time, being fed with a certain food by an angel, 



184 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

walked and fasted in the strength of that meat forty 
days. And John Bocatius makes mention of a man in 
his time, in Venice, who would every year fast four 
days without any meat; also, a greater wonder, that 
there was a woman in lower Germany, at the same 
time, who took no food till the thirteenth year of her 
age, which, to us, may seem incredible, but that he 
confirmed it. He also tells of a miracle of our age, 
that his brother, Nicolaus Stone, an Helvetian by 
nation, who lived over twenty years in the wilderness 
without meat till he died. That also is wonderful 
which Theophrastus mentions concerning a certain 
man, called Philinus, who used no meat or drink 
besides milk. And there are also grave authors who 
describe a certain herb of Sparta, with which, they 
say, the Scythians can endure twelve days' hunger, 
without meat or drink, if they do but taste it, or hold 
it in their mouth. 

CHAPTER LIX. 

Of Divination dy Dreams. 

There is also a certain kind of divination by dreams 
which is confirmed by the traditions of philosophers, 
the authorities of divines, the examples of histories 
and by daily experience. By dreams I do not mean 
vain and idle imaginations, for they are useless and 
have no divination in them, but arise from the remains 
of watchings, and disturbance of the body. For, as 
the mind is taken up about and wearied with cares, it 
suggests itself to him that is asleep. I call that a 
true dream which is caused by the celestial influences 
in the phantastic spirit, mind or body, being all well 
disposed. The rule of interpreting these is found 
amongst astrologers, in that part which is wrote con- 
cerning questions; but yet that is not sufficient. 



PHILOSOPHY OP NATURAL MAGIC. 185 

because these kinds of dreams come by use to divers 
men after divers manners, and according- to the divers 
qualities and dispositions of the phantastic spirit. 
Wherefore, there cannot be given one common rule to 
all for the interpretation of dreams. But, according 
to the doctrine of Synesius, seeing there are the same 
accidents to things, and like befalls like, so he which 
hath often fallen upon the same visible thing, hath 
assigned to himself the same opinion, passion, fortune, 
action, and event. As Aristotle saith, the memory is 
confirmed by sense, and by keeping in memory the 
same thing, knowledge is obtained; as also, by the 
knowledge of many experiences, by little and little, 
arts and sciences are thus obtained. After the same 
account you must conceive of dreams. Whence Syne- 
sius commands that every one should observe his 
dreams and their events, and such like rules, viz. , to 
commit to memory all things that are seen, and acci- 
dents that befall, as well in sleep as in watching, and 
with a diligent observation consider with himself the 
rules by which these are to be examined; for by this 
means shall a diviner be able, by little and little, to 
interpret his dreams, if so be nothing slip out of his 
memory. Now, dreams are more efficacious when the 
Moon overruns that Sign which was in the ninth num- 
ber^ of the nativity, or revolution of that year, f or in 
the ninth Sign from the Sign of Perfection. I For it is 
a most true and certain divination, neither doth it pro- 
ceed from nature or human arts, but from purified 
minds, by divine inspiration. We shall now discuss 
and examine Prophesying and Oracles. 



*"Nintli Number. "—The Ninth House of the Horoscope, known as the 
House of Science and Religion. 

+ " Revolution."— When the Sun has attained, as to the Earth, its original 
position, or the place it occupied at the moment of birth. 

t" Sign of Perfection."— This is the First House of the Horoscope: that 
House of the "Heaven," or Zodiac, "rising" at birth; the eastern horizon. 



186 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

CHAPTER LX. 

Of Madness, and Divinations which are made when men are 
awake, and of the Power of a Melancholy Humor, by 
which Spirits are sometimes induced into Men^s Bodies. 

It happens also, sometimes, that not only they that 
are asleep, but also they that are watchful, do, with a 
kind of instigation of mind, divine; which divination 
Aristotle calls ravishment, or a kind of madness, and 
teacheth that it proceeds from a melancholy humor, 
saying- in his treatise of divination: Melancholy men, 
by reason of their earnestness, do far better conject- 
ure, and quickly conceive a habit, and most easily 
receive an impression of the celestials. And he, in his 
Problems, saith that the Sibyls, and the Bacchides, and 
Niceratus the Syracusan, and Ammon, were, by their 
natural melancholy complexion, prophets and poets. 
The cause, therefore, of this madness, if it be any- 
thing" within the body, is a melancholy humor; not 
that which they call black choler, which is so obsti- 
nate and terrible a thing, that the violence of it is 
said, by physicians and natural philosophers (besides 
madness, which it doth induce), to draw or entice evil 
spirits to seize upon men's bodies. Therefore, we 
understand a melancholy humor here, to be a natural 
and white choler. For this, when it is stirred up, 
burns, and stirs up a madness conducing to knowledge 
and divination, especially if it be helped by any celes- 
tial influx, especially of Saturn, who (seeing he is 
cold and dry, as is a melancholy humor, hath his influ- 
ence upon it) increaseth and preserveth it. Besides, 
seeing he is the author of secret contemplation, and 
estranged from all public affairs, and the highest of 
all the planets, he doth, as he withcalls his mind from 
outward business, so also make it ascend higher, and 
bestows upon men the knowledge and presages of 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 187 

future things. And this is Aristotle's meaning in his 
book of Problems. By melancholy, saith he, some 
men are made, as it were, divine, foretelling things to 
come; and some men are made poets. He saith, also, 
that all men that were excellent in any science, were, 
for the most part, melancholy. Democritus and Plato 
attest the same, saying that there were some melan- 
choly men that had such excellent wits that they were 
thought and seemed to be more divine than human. 
So also there have been many melancholy men at first 
rude, ignorant and untractable, as they say Tynnichus, 
Hesiod, Ion, Calcinenses, Homer, and Lucretius were, 
who on a sudden were taken with a madness and became 
poets, and prophesied wonderful and divine things, 
which they themselves scarce understood. Whence 
Plato, in Ion, saith that many prophets, after the vio- 
lence of their madness was abated, do not well under- 
stand what they wrote, yet treated accurately of each 
art in their madness; as all artists, by reading of 
them, judge. So great also, they say, the power of 
melancholy is of, that, by its force, celestial spirits 
also are sometimes drawn into men's bodies, by whose 
presence and instinct, antiquity testifies, men have 
been made drunk and spake most wonderful things. 
And this thing, they think, happens under a three-fold 
difference, according to a three-fold apprehension of 
the soul, viz., imaginative, rational, and mental; they 
say, therefore, that when the mind is forced with a 
melancholy humor, nothing moderating the power of 
the body, and, passing beyond the bounds of the mem- 
bers, is wholly carried into imagination, it doth sud- 
denly become a seat for inferior spirits, by which the 
mind oftentimes receives wonderful ways and forms of 
manual arts. So we see that any most ignorant man 
doth presently become an excellent painter, or con- 
triver of building, and to become a master in any such 

13 



188 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

art. But when these kinds of spirits portend to us 
future things they show those things which belong to 
the disturbing of the Elements and changes of times, 
as rain, tempests, inundations, earthquakes, slaughter, 
great mortality, famine, and the like. As we read in 
Aulus Gelius that his priest, Cornelius Patarus, did, 
at the time when Caesar and Pompey were to fight in 
Thessalia, being taken with a madness, foretell the 
time, order and issue of the battle. But when the 
mind is turned wholly into reason it becomes a recep- 
tacle for middle world spirits. Hence it obtains the 
knowledge and understanding of natural and human 
things. So we see that a man sometimes doth on a 
sudden become a philosopher, physician, or an orator, 
and foretells mutations of kingdoms, and restitutions 
of ages, and such things as belong to them, as did the 
Sibyl to the Romans. But when the mind is wholly 
elevated into the understanding, then it becomes a 
receptacle of sublime spirits and learns of them the 
secrets of divine things, such as the Law of God, and 
the Orders of Angels, and such things as belong to the 
knowledge of things eternal and the ascent of souls. 
It foresees things which are appointed by predestina- 
tion, such as future prodigies or miracles, the prophet 
to come, and the changing of the law. So the Sibyls 
prophesied of Christ a long time before his coming. 
So Virgil, understanding that Christ was at hand and 
remembering what the Sibyl, Cumasa, had said, sang 
thus to Pollio: 

Last times are come, Cumcea 's prophesie — 
Noiv from high heaven springs a neiu progenie, 
And times Great Order noiv again is born, 
The Maid returns, Saturnian Realms return. 

And, a little after, intimating that original sin shall 
be of no effect, he saith: 



PHILOSOPHY OP NATURAL. MAGIC. 189 

If any prints of our old vice remain' d , 

By thee tJiey^r void, and fear shall leave the Land; 

Re a God^s life shall take, luith Gods shall see 

Mixt Heroes, and himself their object l>e; 

Rule ivith paternal power th^ appeased Earth 

He shall 

Then he adds, that thence the fall of the Serpent, 
and the poison of the tree of death, or of the knowl- 
edge of good and evil, shall be nulled, saying: 

The Serpent shall 



And the deceitful Herb of Venom fall. 

Yet he intimates that some sparks of original sin 
shall remain, when he saith: 

Some steps of ancient fraud shall yet be found. 

And at last with a most great hyperbole cries out 
to his child, as the offspring of God, adoring him in 
these words: 

Dear race of Gods, great stock of Jupiter, 
Behold ! the World shakes on its ponderous axe, 
See earth, and heavens immense, and Ocean tracts, 
How all things at th^ approaching Age rejoice! 
0, that my life would last so long, and voice, 
As would suffice thy actions to rehearse. 

There are also some prognostics which are in the 
middle, betwixt natural and supernatural divination, 
as in those who are near to death, and, being weakened 
with old age, do sometimes foresee things to come, 
because, as saith Plato, by how much the more men 
are less hindered by their sense, so much the more 
accurately they understand, and because they are 
nearer to the place whither they must go (and their 
bonds being, as it were, a little loosed, seeing they are 



190 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

no more subject to the body) easily perceive the light 
of divine revelation. 



CHAPTER LXI. 

Of the Forming of Man, of the External Senses, also those 
Inward, and the Mind; and of the Threefold Appetite of 
the Soul, and Passions of the Will. 

It is the opinion of some divines that God did not 
immediately create the body of man, but by the assist- 
ance of the heavenly spirits compounded and framed 
him; which opinion Alcinous and Plato favor, thinking" 
that God is the chief creator of the whole world, and of 
spirits, both good and bad, and therefore immortal- 
ized them; but that all kinds of mortal animals were 
made only at the command of God; for, if he should 
have created them, they must have been immortal. 
The spirits, therefore, mixing Earth, Fire, Air, and 
Water together, made of them all, put together, one 
body, which they subjected to the service of the soul, 
assigning in it several provinces to each power thereof; 
to the meaner of them, mean and low places: as to 
anger, the midriff; to desire, the womb; but to the more 
noble senses, the head — as the tower of the whole 
body — and then the manifold organs of speech. They 
divide the senses into the external and internal. The. 
external are divided into five, known to every one, to 
which there are allotted five organs, or subjects, as it 
were, foundations; being so ordered that they which are 
placed in the more eminent part of the body, have a 
greater degree of purity. For the eyes, placed in the, 
uppermost place, are the most pure, and have an affin- 
ity with the nature of Fire and Light; then the ears 
have the second order of place and purity, and are 
compared to the Air; the nostrils have the third order, 



1i 



PHILOSOPHY OP NATURAL MAGIC. 191 

and have a middle nature betwixt the Air and the 
Water. Then the organ of tasting, which is grosser, 
and most like to the nature of Water. Last of all 
the touching is diffused through the whole body, and 
is compared to the grossness of Earth. The more pure 
senses are those which perceive their objects farthest 
off, as seeing and hearing; then the smelling, then the 
taste, which doth not perceive but that which is nigh. 
But the touch perceives both ways, for it perceives 
bodies nigh; and as sight discerns by the medium of the 
Air, so the touch perceives, by the medium of a stick 
or pole, bodies hard, soft and moist. Now the touch 
only is common to all animals. And it is most certain 
that man hath this sense, and, in this and taste, he 
excells all other animals; but in the other three, he is 
excelled by some animals, as by a dog, who hears, sees 
and smells more acutely than man; and the lynx and 
eagles see more acutely than all other animals and 
man. Now the interior senses are, according to Aver- 
rois, divided into four, whereof the first is called com- 
mon sense, because it doth first collect and perfect all 
the representations which are drawn in by the outward 
senses. The second is the imaginative power, whose 
office is, seeing it represents nothing, to retain those 
representations which are received by the former 
senses, and to present them to the third faculty of 
inward sense, which is the phantasy, or power of 
judging, whose work is also to perceive and judge by 
the representations received, what, or what kind of 
thing that is of which the representations are; and to 
commit those things which are thus discerned and 
adjudged, to the memory to be kept. For the virtues 
thereof in general, are discourse, dispositions, perse 
cutions, and flights, and stirrings up to action, but in 
particular, the understanding of intellectuals, virtues, 
the manner of discipline, counsel, and election. This 



^ 



192 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

is that which shows us future things by dreams, whence 
the fancy is sometimes named the phantastical intel- 
lect. For it is the last impression of the understanding-, 
which, as saith lamblicus, is that belonging to all the 
powers of the mind, and forms all figures, resem- 
blances of species, and operations, and things seen, 
and sends forth the impressions of other powers unto 
others. And those things which appear by sense, it 
stirs up into an opinion; but those things which appear 
by the intellect, in the second place, it offers to opinion; 
but of itself it receives images from all, and, by its 
property, doth properly assign them, according to 
their assimilation; it forms all the actions of the soul, 
and accommodates the external to the internal and 
impresses the body with its impression. Now these 
senses have their organs in the head, for the common 
sense and imagination take up the two forward cells of 
the brain, although Aristotle placeth the organ of the 
common sense in the heart; but the cogitative power 
possesseth the highest and middle part of the head; 
and, lastly, the memory the hindmost part thereof. 
Moreover, the organs of voice and speech are many, as 
the inward muscles of the breast betwixt the ribs, the 
breasts, the lungs, the arteries, the windpipe, the bow- 
ing of the tongue, and all those parts and muscles that 
serve for breathing. But the proper organ of speech 
is the mouth, in which are framed words and speeches, 
the tongue, the teeth, the lips, the palate and the 
like. Above the sensible soul, which expresseth its 
powers by the organs of the body, the incorporeal 
mind possesseth the highest place, and it hath a double 
nature — the one, which inquireth into the causes, prop- 
erties, and progress of those things which are con- 
tained in the Order of Nature, and is content in the 
contemplation of the truth, which is, therefore called 
the contemplative intellect. The other is a power of 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 193 

the mind which, discerning' by consulting what things 
are to be done and what is to be shunned, is wholly 
taken up in consultation and action, and is therefore 
ealled the active intellect. This order of powers, 
therefore, Nature ordained in man, that by the exter- 
nal senses we might know corporeal things, and by 
those internal the representations of bodies, as also 
things abstracted by the mind and intellect, which are 
neither bodies nor any thing like them. And, accord- 
ing to this three-fold order of the powers of the soul, 
there are three Appetites in the soul: The first is 
natural, and is an inclination of nature unto its end, as 
of a stone downw^ard, which is in all stones; another 
is animal, which the sense follows, and it is divided 
into that irascible and that concupiscible; the third is 
intellectual, and is called the will, differing from the 
sensitive faculty in that the sensitive is, of itself, of 
those things which may be presented to the senses, 
desiring nothing unless in some manner comprehended. 
But the will, although it be of itself of all things that 
are possible, yet, because it is free by its essence, it 
may be also of things that are impossible, as it was in 
the devil (desiring himself to be equal with God) and, 
therefore, is altered and depraved with pleasure and 
with continual anguish, whilst it assents to the inferior 
powers. Whence, from its depraved appetite, there 
arise four passions in it, with which, in like manner, 
the body is affected sometimes. Whereof the first is 
called oblectation, which is a certain quietness or 
assentation of the mind or will, because it obeys, and 
not willingly consents to that pleasantness which the 
senses hold forth; which is, therefore, defined to be an 
inclination of the mind to an effeminate pleasure. 
The second is called effusion, which is a remission of, 
or dissolution of the power, viz., when beyond the 
oblectation, the whole power of the mind and intention 



194 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

of the present good is melted, and diffuseth itself 
to enjoy it. The third is vaunting and loftiness, 
thinking itself to have attained to some great good, 
in the enjoyment of which it prides itself and glorieth. 
The fourth and the last is envy, or a certain kind of 
pleasure or delight at another man's harm, without 
any advantage to itself. It is said to be without any 
advantage to itself, because, if any one should, for his 
own profit, rejoice at another man's harm, this would 
be rather out of love to himself than out of ill will to 
another. And all these four passions, arising from a 
depraved appetite for pleasure, the grief or^perplexity 
itself doth also beget very many contrary passions, as 
horror, sadness, fear, and sorrow at another's good 
without his own hurt, which we call envy, or sadness 
at another's prosperity, just as pity is a certain kind 
of sadness at another's misery. 



CHAPTER LXII. 

Of the Passions of the Mind, their Original Source, Differ- 
ences, and Kinds. 

The passions of the human mind are nothing else but 
certain motions or inclinations proceeding from the 
apprehension of any thing, as of good or evil, conven- 
ient or inconvenient. Now these kind of apprehen- 
sions are of three sorts, viz., Sensual, Rational, and 
Intellectual. According to these three are three sorts 
of passions in the soul; for when they follow the sen- 
sitive apprehension then they respect a temporary 
good or evil, under the notion of profitable or unprofit- 
able, or delightful or offensive, and are called natural 
or animal passions. When they follow the rational 
apprehension, and so respect good or bad, under the 
notions of virtue or vice, praise or disgrace, profitable 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 195 

or unprofitable, or honest or dishonest, they are called 
rational or voluntary passions. When they foUow the 
intellectual apprehension, and respect good or bad, 
under the notion of just or unjust, or true or false, 
they are called intellectual passions, or syncrisis, the 
faculty of choosing from comparison. Now, the sub- 
ject of the passions of the soul is the concupitive 
power of the soul, and is divided into that concupisci- 
ble and that irascible, and both respect good and bad, 
but under a different notion. For when the concupis- 
cible power respects good and evil absolutely, love or 
lust, or, on the contrary, hatred is caused. When it 
respects good, though absent, so desire is caused; or 
evil, though absent or at hand, and so is caused hor- 
ror, flying from, or loathing; or, if it respects good, 
though present, then there is caused delight, mirth or 
pleasure; but if evil, though present, then sadness, 
anxiety, or grief; but the irascible power respects good 
or bad, under the notion of some difficulty, to obtain 
the one, or to avoid the other, and this sometimes with 
confidence. And so there is caused hope or boldness; 
but when with diffidency, then despair and fear. But 
when that irascible power riseth into revenge, and this 
be only about some evil past, as it were, of injury or 
hurt offered, there is caused anger. And so we find 
eleven passions in the mind, which are: love, hatred, 
desire, horror, joy, grief, hope, despair, boldness, fear, 
and anger. 



CHAPTER LXIII. 

Hoiv the Passions of the Mind change the proper Body by 
changing its Accidents and moving the Spirit. 

The phantasy, or imaginative power, hath a ruling 
power over the passions of the soul when they follow 
the sensual apprehension. For this doth, of its own 



196 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

power, according* to the diversity of the passions, first 
of all, change the proper body with a sensible trans- 
mutation, by changing the accidents in the body, and 
by moving the spirit upward or downward, inward or 
outward, and by producing divers qualities in the 
members. So in joy, the spirits are driven outward; 
in fear, drawn back; in bashfulness, are moved to the 
brain. So in joy, the heart is dilated outward, by 
little and little; in sadness, is constrained, by little 
and little, inward. After the same manner in anger 
or fear, but suddenly. Again, anger, or desire of 
revenge, produceth heat, redness, a bitter taste and a 
looseness. Fear induceth cold, trembling of the heart, 
speechlessness and paleness. Sadness causeth sweat 
and a bluish whiteness. Pity, which is a kind of sad- 
ness, doth often ill affect the body of him that takes 
pity, though it seems to be the body of another man 
so affected. Also, it is manifest that amongst some 
lovers there is such a strong tie of love that what the 
one suffers the other suffers. Anxiety induceth dry- 
ness and blackness. And how great heats love stirs 
up in the liver and pulse, physicians know, divining 
by that kind of judgment the name of the one that is 
so beloved in an heroic passion. So Naustratus knew 
that Antiochus was taken with the love of Straton- 
ica. It is also manifest that such like passions, when 
they are most vehement, may cause death. And this 
is manifest to all men, that with too much joy, sadness, 
love, or hatred, men many times die, and are sometimes 
freed from a disease. And so we read that Sophocles, 
and Dionysius, the Sicilian tyrant, did both suddenly 
die at the news of a tragical victory. So a certain 
woman, also, seeing her son returning from the Canen- 
sian battle, died suddenly. Now, what sadness can 
do is known to all. We know that dogs oftentimes 
die with sadness because of the death of their masters. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC 197 

Sometimes, also, by reason of these like passions, long 
diseases follow, and are sometimes cured. So, also, 
some men looking" from a hig-h place, by reason of 
great fear, .tremble, are dim-sighted and weakened, and 
sometimes loose their senses. So fears and falling- 
sickness sometimes follow sobbing. Sometimes won- 
derful effects are produced, as in the son of Croesus, 
whom his mother brought forth dumb, yet a vehement 
fear and ardent affection made him speak, which natu- 
rally he could never do. So with a sudden fall, often- 
times life, sense, or motion, on a sudden, leave the 
members, and presently again, are sometimes returned. 
And how much vehement anger, joined with great 
audacity, can do, Alexander the Great shows, who, 
being circumvented with a battle in India, was seen to 
send forth from himself lightning and fire; the father of 
Theodoricus is said to have sent forth out of his body 
sparks of fire, so that sparkling flames did leap out 
with a noise. And such like things sometimes appear 
in beasts, as in the horse of Tiberius, which was said 
to send forth a flame out of his mouth. 



CHAPTER LXIV. 

Hoiu the Passions of the Mind change the Body by way of 
Imitation from some Resemblance; of the Transforming 
and Translating of Men, and what Force the Imaginative 
Poioer hath, not only over the Body but the Soul. 

The foresaid passions sometimes alter the body by 
reason of the virtue which the likeness of the thing 
hath to change it, which power the vehement imagi- 
nation moves, as in setting the teeth on edge at the 
sight or hearing of something, or because we see, or 
imagine, another to eat sharp or sour things. So he, 
which sees another gape, gapes also; and some, when 



198 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

they hear any one name sour things, their tongues 
waxeth tart. Also, the seeing of any filthy thing 
causeth nauseousness. Many, at the sight of a man's 
blood, fall into a swoon. Some, when they see bitter 
meat given to any, perceive a bitter spittle in their 
mouth. And William of Paris saith that he saw a 
man, that at the sight of a medicine, was affected as 
much as he pleased; when, as neither the substance of 
the medicine, nor the odor, nor the taste of it came to 
him, but only a kind of resemblance was apprehended 
by him. Upon this account, some that are in a dream 
think they burn and are in a fire, and are fearfully 
tormented, as if they did truly burn, when, as the sub- 
stance of the fire is not near them, but only a resem- 
blance apprehended by their imagination. And some- 
times men's bodies are transformed, and transfigured, 
and also transported; and this oft times when they are 
in a dream, and sometimes when they are awake. So 
Cyprus, after he was chosen king of Italy, did very 
much wonder at and meditate upon the fight and vic- 
tory of bulls, and in the thought thereof did sleep a 
whole night, and in the morning he was found horned, 
no otherwise than by the vegetative power, being 
stirred up by a vehement imagination, elevating corn- 
ific humors into his head and producing horns. For a 
vehement cogitation, whilst it vehemently moves the 
species, pictures out the figure of the thing thought on, 
which they represent in their blood, and the blood 
impresseth the figure on the members that are nour- 
ished by it; as upon those of the same body, so upon 
those of anothers. So the imagination of a woman 
with child impresseth the mark of the thing longed 
for upon her infant, and the imagination of ^ a man, bit 
with a mad dog, impresseth upon his body the image 
of dogs. So men may grow gray on a sudden. And 
some, by the dream of one night, have grown up from 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 199 

boys into perfect men. Hereto, also, may be referred 
those many scars of King Dagobertus, and marks of 
Franciscus, which they received — the one, whilst he 
was afraid of correction, and the other, whilst he did 
wonderfully meditate upon the wounds of Christ. So, 
many are transported from place to place, passing over 
rivers, fires and unpassable places, viz., when the spe- 
cies of any vehement desire, or fear, or boldness, are 
impressed upon their sprits, and, being mixed with 
vapors, do move the organ of the touch in their origi- 
nal, together with phantasy, which is the original of 
local motion. Whence they stir up the members and 
organs of motion to motion, and are moved, without 
any mistake, unto the imagined place, not out of sight, 
but from the interior phantasy. So great a power is 
there of the soul upon the body, that whichever way 
the soul imagines and dreams that it goes, thither 
doth it lead the body. We read many other examples 
by which the power of the soul upon the body is won- 
derfully explained, as like that which Avicen describes 
of a certain man, who, when he pleased, could affect 
his body with the palsy. They report of Gallus Vibius 
that he did fall into madness, not casually, but on pur- 
pose, for, whilst he did imitate madmen, he assimi- 
lated their madness to himself and became mad indeed. 
And Austin makes mention of some men who could 
move their ears at their pleasure, and some that could 
move the crown of their head to their forehead and 
could draw it back again when they pleased, and of 
another that could sweat at his pleasure. And it is 
well known that some can weep at their pleasure, and 
pour forth abundance of tears; and there are some that 
can bring up what they have swallowed, when they 
please, as out of a bag, by degrees. And we see that 
in these daj^s there are many who can so imitate and 
express the voices of birds, cattle, dogs, and some 



200 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

men, that they can scarce at all be discerned. Also 
Pliny relates, by divers examples, that women 'have 
been turned into men. Pontanus testilieth that in his 
time, a certain woman called Caietava, and another 
one called Aemilia, who, many years after they were 
married, were changed into men. Now, how much 
imagination can affect the soul no man is ignorant, 
for it is nearer to the substance of the soul than the 
sense is, and therefore acts more upon the soul than 
the sense doth. So women, by certain strong imagi- 
nations, dreams, and suggestions, brought in by certain 
magical arts, do often bind themselves into a strong 
affection for any one. So they say that Medea, by 
a dream, was filled with love for Jason. So the soul 
sometimes is, by a vehement imagination or specula- 
tion, altogether abstracted from the body, as Celsus 
relates of a certain presbyter, who, as often as he 
pleased, could make himself senseless and lay like a 
dead man, so that when any one pricked or burnt him 
he felt no pain, but lay without any motion or breath- 
ing; yet he could, as he said, hear men's voices, as it 
were, afar off, if they cried out aloud. 



CHAPTER LXV. 

How the Passions of the Mind can Work of themselves upon 

Another's Body. 

The passions of the soul which follow the phantasy, 
when they are most vehement, cannot only change 
their own body, but also can transcend so as to work 
upon another body; so that some wonderful impres- 
sions are thence produced in elements and extrinsical 
things, and they can thus take away or bring some 
disease of the mind or body. For the passions of the 
soul are the chiefest cause of the temperament of its 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 201 

proper body. So the soul, being strongly elevated, 
and inflamed with a strong imagination, sends forth 
health or sickness, not only in its proper body, but 
also in other bodies. So Avicen is of the opinion that 
a camel may fall by the imagination of any one. So 
he who is bitten with a mad dog presently falls into 
a madness, and there appear in his body the shapes of 
dogs. So the longing of a woman with child doth act 
upon another's body when it signs the infant in the 
womb with the mark of the thing she longs for. So 
many monstrous generations proceed from monstrous 
imaginations of women with child, as Marcus Damas- 
cenus reports that at Petra Saneta, a town situated 
upon the territories of Pisa, there was a wench pre- 
sented to Charles, king of Bohemia, who was rough 
and hairy all over her body, like a wild beast, whom 
her mother, affected with a religious kind of horror 
by the picture of John the Baptist (which was in the 
chamber she occupied), afterwards brought her forth 
after this fashion. And this, we see, is not only in 
men, but also is done among brute creatures. So we 
read that Jacob, the patriarch, with his speckled rods 
set in the watering places, did discolor the sheep of 
Laban. So the imaginative powers of peacocks, and 
other birds, whilst they be mating, impress a color 
upon their wings. Whence we produce white pea- 
cocks, by hanging white clothes around the places 
where they mate. Now, by the above examples, it 
appears how the affection of the phantasy, when it 
vehemently intends itself, doth not only affect its own 
proper body, but also anothers. So also the desire of 
witches to hurt doth bewitch men most perniciously 
with steadfast looks. To these things Avicen, Aris- 
totle, Algazel, and Gallen assent. For it is manifest 
that a body may most easily be affected with the vapor 
of another's diseased body, which we plainly see in the 



202 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

plag-ue and leprosy. Again, in the vapor of the eyes 
there is so great a power that they can bewitch and 
infect any that are near them, as the cockatrice or 
basilisk which kill men with their looks. And certain 
women in Scythia, amongst the Illyrians and Triballi, 
killed whomsoever they looked angry upon. There- 
fore, let no man wonder that the body and soul of one 
may, in like manner, be affected with the mind of 
another, seeing the mind is far more powerful, strong, 
fervent, and more prevalent in its motion than the 
vapors exhaling out of bodies; neither are there want- 
ing mediums by which it should work, neither is 
another's body less subject to another's mind than to 
another's body. Upon this account, they say that a 
man, by his affection and habit only, may act upon 
another. Therefore, philosophers advise that the 
society of evil and mischievous men must be shunned, 
for their soul, being full of noxious rays, infects them 
that are near with a hurtful contagion. On the con- 
trary, they advise that the society of good and fortu- 
nate men be endeavored after, because by their near- 
ness they do us much good. For as the smell of musk 
doth penetrate, so something of either bad or good is 
derived from anything bad or good by those that are 
nigh to them; which may continue a long time. Now, 
if the foresaid passions have so great a power in the 
phantasy, they have certainly a greater power in the 
reason, in as much as the reason is more excellent than 
the phantasy; and, lastly, they have much greater 
power in the mind; for this, when it is fixed upon God 
for any good with its whole intention, doth oftentimes 
affect another's body, as well as its own, with some 
divine gift. By this means we read that many mira- 
cles were done by Apollonius, Pythagoras, Empedocles, 
Philolaus, and many prophets and holy men of our 
religion, which things we shall now consider. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 203 

f 

CHAPTER LXyi. 

That the Passions of the, Mind are Helped by a Celestial Sea- 
son, and hoiv Necessary the Constancy of the Mind is in 
every Work. 

The passions of the mind are much helped, and are 
helpful, and become most powerful by virtue of the 
Heaven, as they agree with the Heaven, either by any 
natural agreement or by voluntary election. For, as 
saith Ptolemy, he which chooseth that which is the 
better seems to differ nothing from him who hath this 
by nature. It conduceth, therefore, very much for the 
receiving of the benefit of the Heavens, in any work, if 
we shall, by the Heaven, make ourselves suitable to it 
in our thoughts, affections, imaginations, deliberations, 
elections, contemplations, and the like. For such like 
passions do vehemently stir up our spirit to the like- 
ness of the Heavens and expose us and ours straight- 
away to the Superior Significators of such like passions; 
and, also, by reason of their dignity and nearness to 
the Superiors do much more partake of the Celestials 
than any other material things. For our mind can, 
through imagination or by reason of a kind of imita- 
tion, be so conformed to any Star as suddenly to be 
filled with the virtues of that Star, as if it were a 
proper receptacle of the influence thereof. Now, the 
contemplating mind, as it withdraws itself from all 
sense, imagination, nature, and deliberation, and calls 
itself back to things separated, unless it exposeth 
itself to Saturn, is not of present consideration or 
enquiry. For our mind doth effect divers things by 
faith (which is a firm adhesion, a fixed intention, and 
a vehement application of the worker, or receiver) to 
him that co-operates in any thing, and gives power to 
the work which we intend to do. So that there is 
made, as it were, in us, the image of the virtue to be 

14 



204 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

received, and the thing to be done in us, or by us. We 
must, therefore, in every work and application of 
things, affecf vehemently, imagine, hope, and believe 
strongly, for that will be a great help. And it is veri- 
fied amongst physicians, that a strong belief, and an 
undoubted hope and love towards the physician and 
medicine, conduce much to health; yea, more, some- 
times, than the medicine itself. For the same that the 
efficacy and virtue of the medicine works, the same 
doth the strong imagination of the physician work, 
being able to change the qualities in the body of the 
sick, especially when the patient placeth much confi- 
dence in the physician, by that means disposing him- 
self for the receiving of the virtue of the physician and 
physic. Therefore, he that works in Magic must be of 
a constant belief, be credulous, and not at all doubtful 
of obtaining the effect. For, as a firm and strong 
belief doth work wonderful things, although it be in 
false works, so distrust and doubting doth dissipate 
and break the virtue of the mind of the worker, which 
is the medium between both extremes; whence it hap- 
pens that he is frustrated of the desired influence of the 
superiors, which could not be joined and united to our 
labors without a firm and solid virtue of our mind. 



CHAPTER LXVII. 

How the Mind of Man may be Joined with the Mind of the 
Stars, and Intelligences of the Celestials, and, together tvith 
them, Impress certain ivonderful Virtues upon inferior 
Things. 

The philosophers, especially the Arabians, say that 
man's mind, when it is most intent upon any work, 
through its passion and effects, is joined with the mind 
of the stars and intelligences; and, being so joined, is 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 205 

the cause of some wonderful virtue being infused into 
our works and things; and this, because there is in 
the mind an apprehension and power of all things, so 
all things have a natural obedience to it, and of neces- 
sity an efficacy; and more to that which desires them 
with a strong desire. And according to this is verified 
the art of characters, images, enchantments, and some 
speeches, and many other wonderful experiments as to 
everything which the mind affects. By this means, 
whatsoever the mind of him that is in vehement love, 
affects, hath an efficacy to cause love; and whatsoever 
the mind of him that strongly hates, dictates, hath an 
efficacy to hurt and destroy. The like is in other 
things, which the mind affects with a strong desire. 
For all those things which the mind acts and dictates 
by characters, figures, words, speeches, gestures, and 
the like, help the appetite of the soul and acquire 
certain wonderful virtues; as from the soul of the 
operator, in that hour when such a like appetite doth 
invade it, so from the opportunity and celestial influ- 
ence, moving the mind in that manner. For our mind, 
when it is carried upon the great excess of any passion 
or rirtue, oftentimes presently takes of itself a strong, 
better and more convenient hour or opportunity, which 
Thomas Aquinas, in his third book against the Gentiles, 
confesseth. So many wonderful virtues both cause 
and follow certain admirable operations by great 
affections in those things which the soul doth dictate 
in that hour to them. But know that such things con- 
fer nothing, or very little, to the author of them, and 
to him which is inclined to them, as if he were the 
author of them. And this is the manner by which 
their efficacy is found out. And it is a general rule in 
them, that every mind that is more excellent in its love 
and affection makes such like things more fit for itself, 
becoming efficacious to that which it desires. Every 



206 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

one, therefore, that is willing to work in Mag"ic must 
know the virtue, measure, order, and degree of his own 
soul, in relation to the Power of the Universe 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 

How our Mind can Change and Bind inferior Things to the 
Ends luhich tve Desire. 

There is also a certain virtue in the minds of men 
of changing, attracting, hindering, and binding to that 
which they desire; and all things obey them when they 
are carried into a great excess of any passion or vir- 
tue, so as to exceed those things which they bind. 
For the superior binds that which is inferior, and con- 
verts it to itself; and the inferior is, by the same rea- 
son, converted to the superior, or is otherwise affected, 
and wrought upon. By this reason, things that receive 
a superior degree of any star, bind, or attract, or hin- 
der things which have an inferior, according as they 
agree or disagree amongst themselves. Whence a 
lion is afraid of a cock, because the presence of the 
Solary virtue is more agreeable to a cock than to a 
lion. So a loadstone draws iron, because, in its order, 
it hath a superior degree of the Celestial Bear. 

So the diamond hinders the loadstone, because, in 
the order of Mars, it is superior to it. In like man- 
ner any man, when he is opportunely exposed to the 
celestial influences (as by the affections of his mind 
and due applications of natural things), if he become 
stronger in a Solary virtue, he binds and draws the 
inferior into admiration and obedience — in the order of 
the Moon, to servitude or infirmities; in a Saturnine 
order, to quietness or sadness; in the order of Jupiter, 
to worship; in the order of Mars, to fear and discord; 
in a Venus order, to love and joy; in a Mercurial order, 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 207 

to persuasion and obsequiousness, and the like. The 
ground of such a kind of binding is the very vehe- 
ment and boundless affection of the soul with the 
concourse of the celestial order. But the dissolutions 
or hinderances of such a like binding are made by a 
contrary effect, and that more excellent or strong; for 
as the greater excess of the mind binds, so, also, it 
looseth and hindereth. And, lastly, when the mind 
feareth Venus, it opposes Saturn; when Saturn or 
Mars, it opposes Venus or Jupiter; for astrologers say 
that these are most at enmity, and contrary the one to 
the other (i. e.), causing contrary effects in these 
inferior bodies. For in the Heavens, where there is 
nothing" wanting, and where all things are governed 
with love, there can in no wise be hatred or enmity. 



CHAPTER LXIX. 

Of Speech, and the Occult Virtue of Words. 

It being shown that there is a great power in the \ 
affections of the soul, you must know, moreover, that 
there is no less virtue in words and the names of 
things, and greatest of all in speeches and motions; by 
which we chiefly differ from the brutes, and are called 
rational; not from reason, which is taken for that part 
of the soul which contains the affections (which Galen 
saith is also common to brutes, although in a less 
degree), but we are called rational from that reason 
which is, according to the voice, understood in words 
and speech, which is called Declarative Reason; by 
which part we do chiefly excel all other animals. For 
logos, in Greek, signifies reason, speech, and a word. 
Now, a word is two-fold, viz., internal and uttered. 
An internal word is a conception of the mind and 
motion of the soul, which is made without a voice; 



208 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

as in dreams we seem to speak and dispute with our- 
selves, and whilst we are awake, we run over a whole 
speech silently. But an uttered word hath a certain 
act in the voice, and properties of locution, and is 
brought forth with the breath of a man, with opening 
of his mouth and with the speech of his tongue; in 
which nature hath coupled the corporeal voice and 
speech to the mind and understanding, making that 
a declarer and interpreter of the conception of our 
intellect to the hearers; and of this we now speak. 
Words, therefore, are the fittest medium betwixt the 
speaker and the hearer, carrying with them not only 
the conception of the mind, but also the virtue of the 
speaker, with a certain efficacy, unto the hearers; and 
this oftentimes with so great a power, that often they 
change not only the hearers but also other bodies and 
things that have no life. Now those words are of 
greater efficacy than others which represent greater 
things — as intellectual, celestial, and supernatural; as 
more expressly, so more mysteriously. Also those 
that come from a more worthy tongue, or from any of 
a more holy order; for these (as it were certain signs 
and representations) receive a pov/er of celestial and 
supercelestial things, as from the virtue of things 
explained, of which they are the vehicle, and from a 
power put into them by the virtue of the speaker. 



CHAPTER LXX. 

Of the Virtue of Proper Names. 

That the proper names of things are very necessary 
in Magical Operations, almost all men testify. For 
the natural power of things proceeds, first, from the 
objects to the senses, and then from these to the imag- 
ination, and from this to the mind, in which it is first 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 209 

conceived, and then is expressed by voices and words. 
The Platonists, therefore, say that in this very voice, 
or word, or name framed, with its articles, that the 
power of the thing, as it were some kind of life, lies 
under the form of the signification. First conceived in 
the mind, as it were through certain seeds of things, 
then by voices or words, as a birth brought forth; and 
lastly, kept in writings. Hence magicians say, that 
the proper names of things are certain rays of things, 
everywhere present at all times, keeping the power of 
things, as the essence of the thing signified, rules, and 
is discerned in them and know the things by them, as 
by proper and living images. For, as the great oper- 
ator doth provide divers species and particular things 
by the influences of the Heavens, and by the elements, 
together with the virtues of planets, so, according to 
the properties of the influences, proper names result 
to things and are put upon them by him who numbers 
the multitude of the stars, calling them all by their 
names; of which names Christ in another place speaks, 
saying, "Your names are written in Heaven. ' Adam, 
therefore, that gave the first names to things, know- 
ing the influences of the Heavens and properties of 
all things, gave them all names according to their 
natures, as it is written in Genesis, where God brought 
all things that he had created before Adam, that he 
should name them; and as he named any thing, so the 
name of it was; which names, indeed, contain in them 
wonderful powers of the things signified. Every 
voice, therefore, that is significative, first of all signi- 
fies by the influence of the celestial harmony; secondly, 
by the imposition of man, although oftentimes other- 
wise by this than by that. But when both significa- 
tions meet in any voice or name, which are put upon 
them by the said harmony, or men, then that name is 
with a double virtue, viz., natural and arbitrary, made 



210 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

most efficacious to act as often as it shall be uttered in 
due place and time, and seriously, with an intention 
exercised upon the matter rightly disposed, and that 
can naturally be acted upon by it. So we read in Phi- 
lostratus, that when a maid at Rome died the same day 
she was married, and was presented to Apollonius, he 
accurately inquired into her name, which being known, 
he pronounced some occult thing", by which she 
revived. It was an observation amongst the Romans, 
in their holy rites, that when they did besiege any 
city, they did diligently enquire into the proper and 
true name of it, and the name of that God under 
whose protection it was; which being known, they did 
then with some verse call forth the Gods that were the 
protectors of that city, and did curse the inhabitants 
of that city, so at length, their Gods being absent, did 
overcome them, as Virgil sings: 

That kept this Realm, our Gods 



Their Altars have forsook, and 'hlest abodes. 

Now the verse with which the Gods were called out 
and the enemies were cursed, when the city was 
assaulted round about, let him that would know find 
it out in Livy and Macrobius; but also many of these 
Serenus Samonicus, in his book of secret things, 
makes mention of. 



CHAPTER LXXI. 

Of many Words joined together, as in Sentences and Verses; 
and of the Virtues and Astrictions of Charms, 

Besides the virtues of words and names, there is 
also a greater virtue found in sentences, from the truth 
contained in them, which hath a very great power of 
impressing, changing, binding, and establishing, so 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL. MAGIC. 211 

that being used it doth shine the more, and being- 
resisted is more confirmed and consolidated; which 
virtue is not in simple words, but in sentences, by 
which anything is affirmed or denied; of which sort are 
verses, enchantments, imprecations, deprecations, ora- 
tions, invocations, obtestations, adjurations, conjura- 
tions, and such like. Therefore, in composing verses 
and orations for attracting the virtue of any star 
or deity, you must diligently consider what virtue any 
star contains, as, also, what effects and operations, 
and to infer them in verses, by praising, extolling, 
amplifying, and setting forth those things which such 
a kind of star is wont to cause by way of its influence, 
and by vilifying and dispraising those things which it 
is wont to destroy and hinder, and by supplicating and 
begging for that which we desire to get, and by con- 
demning and detestirig that which we would have 
destroyed and hindered; and after the same manner to 
make an elegant oration, and duly distinct, by articles, 
with competent numbers and proportions. Moreover, 
magicians command that we call upon and pray by the 
names of the same star, or name to them to whom such 
a verse belongs, by their wonderful things, or mira- 
cles, by their courses and ways in their sphere, by 
their light, by the dignity of their kingdom, by the 
beauty and brightness that is in it, by their strong and 
powerful virtues, and by such like things as these. As 
Psyche, in Apuleius, prays to Ceres, saying, "I beseech 
thee by thy fruitful right hand, I intreat thee by the 
joyful ceremonies of harvests, by the quiet silence of 
thy chests, by the winged chariots of dragons, thy 
servants, by the furrows of the Sicilian earth, the 
devouring wagon, the clammy earth, by the place of 
going down into cellars at the light nuptials of Pros- 
perina, and returns at the light inventions of her 
daughter, and other things which are concealed in her 



212 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

temple in the city of Eleusis, in Attica. ' ' Besides, with 
the divers sorts of the names of the stars, they com- 
mand us to call upon them by the names of the Intel- 
ligences ruling" over the stars themselves, of which we 
shall speak more at large in their proper place. They 
that desire further examples of these, let them search 
into the hymns of Orpheus, than which nothing is 
more efficacious in Natural Magic, if they, together 
with their circumstances, which wise men know, be 
used according to a due harmony with all attention. 
But to return to our purpose. Such like verses, being 
aptly and duly made, according to the Rule of the Stars, 
and being full of signification and meaning, and oppor- 
tunely pronounced with vehement affection (as accord- 
ing to the number and the proportion of their articles, 
so according to the form resulting from the articles) 
and, by the violence of imagination, do confer a very 
great power in the enchanter, and sometimes transfers 
it upon the thing enchanted, to bind and direct it to the 
same purpose for which the affections and speeches of 
the enchanter are intended. Now, the instrument of 
enchanters is a most pure, harmonical spirit — warm, 
breathing, living, bringing with it motion, affection, 
and signification; composed of its parts, endued with 
sense, and conceived by reason. By the quality, there- 
fore, of this spirit, and by the celestial similitude 
thereof (besides those things which have already been 
spoken of) verses, also, from the opportunity of time, 
receive from above most excellent virtues; and, indeed, 
are more sublime and effiacious than spirits, and vapors 
exhaling out of the vegetable life, such as herbs, roots, 
gums, aromatical things, and fumes and such like. 
And, therefore, magicians enchanting things, are wont 
to blow and breathe upon them the words of the verse, 
or to breathe in the virtue with the spirit, that so the 
whole virtue of the soul be directed to the thing 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 213 

enchanted, being* disposed for the receiving of said 
virtue. And here it is to be noted that every oration, 
writing, and words, as they induce accustomed mo- 
tions by their accustomed numbers, proportions, and 
form, so (besides their usual order) being pronounced, 
or wrote backwards, move unto unusual effects. 



CHAPTER LXXII. 

Of the loonderful Poiver of Enchantments. 

They say that the power of enchantments and verses 
is so great, that it is believed they are able to subvert 
almost all Nature. Apuleius saith that with a magical 
whispering, swift rivers are turned back, the slow sea 
is bound, the winds are breathed out with one accord, 
the Sun is stopped, the Moon is clarified, the Stars are 
pulled out, the day is kept back, the night is pro- 
longed; and of these things Lucan writes: 

The courses of all things did cease, the night 
Prolonged luas, Hioas long before Hioas light; 
Astonied loas the headlong World — all this 
Was by the hearing of a verse. 

And a little before: 

Thessalian verse did into his heart so flow, 
That it did make a greater heat of love. 

And elsewhere: 

No dregs of poison being by him drunk- 
His ivits decayed enchanted 

Also Virgil, in Damon, 

Charms can command the Moon doivn from the Skie; 
Circe^s Charms changed Ulysses'' company. 
A cold snake, being charm'd, burst 



214 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

And Ovid, in his untitled book, saith: 

With charms doth withering Geres dye, 

Dried are the fountains all, 
Acorns from OJces, enchanted Grapes, 

And apples from trees fall. 

If these things were not true, there would not be 
such strict penal statutes made against them that 
should enchant fruit. And Tibullus saith of a certain 
enchantress: 

Her ivith Gharms dratving Stars from Heaven, I, 
And turning the course of rivers, did espy; 
She parts the earth, and Ghosts from Sepulchers 
Draios up, and fetcheth bones aivay from th'' fires, 
And at her pleasure scatters clouds V th'' Air, 
And makes it Snow in Summer hot and fair. 

Of all which that enchantress seems to boast herself 
in Ovid, when she saith: 



') 



At will, I make sioift streams retire 
To their fountains, whilst their Banks admire; 
Sea toss and smooth; clear Glouds with Glouds deform. 
With Spells and Gharms I hreak the Viper^s jaw, 
Gleave solid Bocks, Gakes from their seizures draiv. 
Whole Woods remove, the lofty Mountains shake, 
Earth for to groan, and Ghosts from graves awake, 
And thee, G Moon, I draw 

Moreover, all poets sing, and philosophers do not 
deny, that by verses many wonderful things may be 
done, as corn to be removed, lightnings to be com- 
manded, diseases to be cured, and the like. For Cato, 
himself, in country affairs, used some enchantments 
against the diseases of beasts, which as yet are extant 
in his writings. Also Josephus testifies that Solomon 
was skilled in those kinds of enchantments. Also 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 215 

Celsus Africanus reports, according" to the Egyptian 
doctrine, that man's body, according* to the number of 
the faces of the Zodiac Sig"ns, was taken care of by so 
many, viz. , thirty-six spirits, whereof each undertake 
and defend their proper part, whose names they call 
with a peculiar voice, which, being" called upon, restore 
to health with their enchantments the diseased parts 
of the body. 



CHAPTER LXXIII. 

Of the Virtue of Writing, and of Making Imprecations , and 

Inscriptions. 

The use of words and speech is to express the 
Inwards of the mind, and from thence to draw forth 
the secrets of the thoughts, and to declare the will of 
the speaker. Now, writing is the last expression of 
the mind, and is the number of speech and voice, as, 
also, the collection, state, end, continuing, and iter- 
ation, making a habit, which is not perfected with the 
act of one's voice. And whatsoever is in the mind, in 
voice, in word, in operation, and in speech, the whole 
and all of this is in writing also. And as nothing 
V7hich is conceived in the mind is not expressed by 
voice, so nothing which is expressed is not also writ- 
ten. And, therefore, magicians command that in \ 
every work there be imprecations and inscriptions 
made, by which the operator may express his affection; 
that if he gather an herb, or a stone, he declare for 
what use he doth it; if he make a picture, he say and 
ivrite to what end he maketh it, with, imprecations and 
inscriptions. Albertus, also, in his book, called the / 
Speculum, doth not disallow this, without which all our 
works would never be brought into effect, seeing a 
disposition does not cause an effect, but the act of the 



216 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

disposition. We find, also, that the same kind of pre- 
cepts was in use amongst the ancients, as Virgil testi- 
fies when he sings: 

/ ivalJc around 
First ivith these Threads — in number luhich three are — 
^Bout tN Altars, thrice I shall thy Image hear. 

And a little after: 

Knots, Amaryllis, tie! of Colors three, 

Then say, " These bonds I knit for Venus &e." 

And in the same place: 

As ivith one fire this clay doth harder prove. 
The luax more soft; so, Daphnis, ivith our love. 



CHAPTER LXXIV. 

Of the Proportion, Correspondency, and Reduction of Letters 
to the Celestial Signs and Planets, According to various 
Tongues, and a Table thereof. 

God gave to man a mind and speech, which (as saith 
Mercurius Trismegistus) are thought to be a gift of the 
same virtue, power, and immortality. The omnipotent 
God hath by his providence divided the speech of men 
into divers languages, which languages have, accord- 
ing to their diversity, received divers and proper char- 
acters of writing, consisting in their certain order, 
number, and figure, not so disposed and formed by hap 
or chance, nor by the weak judgment of man, but 
from above, whereby they agree with the celestial and 
divine bodies and virtues. But before all notes of 
languages, the writing of the Hebrews is, of all, the 
most sacred in the figures of characters, points of 
vowels, and tops of accents; or consisting in matter, 
form, and spirit. 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 217 

The position of the Stars being first made in the seat 
of God, which is Heaven, after the figure of them (as 
the masters of the Hebrews testify) are most fully 
formed the letters of the Celestial Mysteries, as by 
their figure, form, and signification, so by the numbers 
signified by them, and also by the various harmonies of 
their conjunction. Whence the more curious Mecubals 
of the Hebrews do undertake — by the figure of their 
letters, the forms of characters, and their signature, 
simpleness or composition, separation, crookedness or 
directness, defect, abounding, greatness or littleness, 
crowning, opening or shutting, order, transmutation, 
joining together, revolution of letters, and of points, 
and tops, by the supputation of numbers, and by the 
letters of things signified — to explain all things; how 
they proceed from the first cause, and are again to be 
reduced into the same. Moreover, they divide the let- 
ters of their Hebrew^ alphabet, viz. , into twelve simple, 
seven double, and three mothers, which, they say, sig- 
nify as characters of things — the Twelve Signs, Seven 
Planets, and Three Elements, viz., Fire, Water, and 
Earth; for they account Air no element, but as the 
glue and spirit of the elements. To these, also, they 
appoint points and tops. As, therefore, by the aspects 
of Planets and Signs, together with the Elements (the 
working spirit and truth), all things have been and are 
brought forth. So, by these characters of letters and 
points, signifying those things that are brought forth, 
the names of all things are appointed, as certain Signs 
and vehicles of things explained, carrying with them 
everywhere their essence and virtues. The profound 
meanings and Signs are inherent in those characters, 
and figures of them, as also numbers, place, order, and 
revolution; so that Origenes, therefore, thought that 
those names, when translated into another idiom, do 
not retain their proper virtue. For only the original 



218 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA'S 

names, which are rightly imposed, because they sig- 
nify naturally and have a natural activity. It is not 
so with them which signify at pleasure, which have no 
activity as they are signifying, as they are but certain 
natural things in themselves. Now, if there be any 
language whose words have a natural signification, it 
is manifest that this is the Hebrew; the order of which 
he that shall profoundly and radically observe, and 
shall know to resolve proportionably the letters 
thereof, shall have a rule exactly to find out any idiom. 
There are, therefore, two and twenty letters, which 
are the foundation of the world, and of creatures that 
are, and are named in it, and every saying and every 
creature are of them, and by their revolutions receive 
their name, being, and virtue. 

He, therefore, that will find them out, must by each 
joining together of the letters so long examine them, 
until the voice of God is manifest, and the framing of 
the most sacred letters be opened and discovered; for 
hence voices and words have efficacy in magical works, 
because that in which Nature first exerciseth magical 
efficacy is the voice of God. But these are of more 
deep speculation than to be handled in this book. To 
return to the division of the letters: of these, amongst 
the Hebrews, are three mothers, viz., ^, ), {^; seven 
double, viz., J^, ^, ^, ^, ^, 3, 3. The other twelve, 
viz., ^, p, ^, y, 0, ;i, ^, ^, ^, n, ;, n- are simple. 

The rule is the same amongst the Chaldeans, and, by 
the imitation of those above, also the letters of other 
tongues are distributed to the Signs, Planets, and Ele- 
ments, after their order. For the vowels in the Greek 
tongue answer to the Seven Planets, and the others are 
attributed to the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, the Four 
Elements, and the Spirit of the World. Amongst the 
Latins there is the same signification of them. For 



PHILOSOPHY OF NATURAL MAGIC. 219 

the five vowels A, E, I, O, U, and J and V, consonants, 
are ascribed to the Seven Planets, and the consonants, 
B, C, D, F, G, L, M, N, P, R, S, T, are answerable to 
the Twelve Sig-ns. The rest, viz., K, Q, X, Z, make the 
Elements. H, the aspiration, represents the Spirit of 
the World. Y, because it is a Greek, and not a Latin 
character, and serving only to Greek words, follows 
the nature of its idiom. 

But this you must not be ignorant of, that it is 
observed by all wise men, that the Hebrew letters are 
the most efficacious of all, because they have the 
greatest similitude with celestials and the world, and 
that the letters of the other tongues have not so great 
an efficacy because they are more distant from them. 
Now the disposition of these the following table will 
explain. Also all the letters have double numbers of 
their order, viz., extended, which simply express of 
what number the letters are, according to their order; 
and collected, which re-collect w^ith themselves the 
numbers of all the preceding letters. Also they have 
integral numbers, which result from the names of let- 
ters, according to their various manners of numbering. 
The virtues of which numbers, he that shall know, 
shall be able in every tongue to draw forth wonderful 
mysteries by their letters, as also to tell what things 
have been past, and foretell things to come. There 
are also other mysterious joinings of letters with num- 
bers, but we shall abundantly discourse of all these in 
the following books. Wherefore we will now put an 
end to this first book. 

The table above referred to, on the following page, 
is from the English edition of 1651. The reader will 
also find a table of the Cabala elsewhere in this volume. 
At this place we insert Mr. Henry Morley's appro- 
priate criticism on Agrippa 's book of Natural Magic. 

15 



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^ 



HENRY MORLEY'S CRITICISM. 



Little disguised by Hebrew admixture, and little 
pervated by the speculations of the Platonists of Alex- 
andria, Philo the Jew, Plotinus, and lamblichus, whom 
the young" student quotes most frequently, we have 
again the Attic Moses, Plato, speaking through a 
young and strong heart to the world. Very great was 
the influence of Plato in this period of wakening to 
thought. Nothing was known by experience of Nature, 
for little had been learnt since the time when Plato, 
theorising upon Nature, owned it to be impossible to 
arrive at any certain result in our speculations upon 
the creation of the visible universe and it authors; 
"wherefore," he said, "even if we should only 
advance reasons not less probable than those of others, 
you should still be content. " In this spirit alone Cor- 
nelius Agrippa taught his age : ' ' There are these mar- 
vels well accredited; there is this cumbrous and dis- 
jointed mass of earthly, sensible experience, which 
there is no way of explaining left to me but one. I 
accept the marvels, foolish as they seem; they are as 
well accredited as things more obviously true. With 
God all things are possible. In God all things consist. 
I will adopt Plato's belief, that the world is animated 
by a moving soul, and from the soul of the world I 
will look up to its Creator. I cannot rest content with 
a confused mass of evidence; I will animate with my 
own soul, and a faith in its divine origin, the world 
about me. I will adopt the glorious belief of Plato, 
that we sit here as in a cavern with our faces held from 
looking to the cavern's mouth, down which a light is 
streaming and pours in a flood over our heads, broken 

221 



222 HENRY MORLEY'S CRITICISM. 

by shadows of things moving in the world above. 
We see the shadows on the wall, hear echoes, and 
believe in all as the one known truth of substance and 
of voice, although these are but the images of the 
superiors. I also will endeavor to climb up out of the 
cave into the land flooded with sunlight. I connect 
all that we see here with Plato's doctrine of superior 
ideas, I subdue matter to spirit, I will see true knowl- 
edge in apparent foolishness, and connect the meanest 
clod with its divine Creator. I will seek to draw down 
influences, and to fill my soul with a new strength 
imparted by the virtue of ideas streaming from above. 
The superior manifest in the inferior is the law of 
Nature manifested in the thing created. My soul is 
not sufficient for itself; beyond it and above it lie 
eternal laws, subtle, not having substance or form, yet 
the cause of form and substance. I cannot hope to 
know them otherwise than as ideas; to unborn genera- 
tions they will be revealed, perhaps; to me they are 
ideas, celestial influences, working intelligences. I 
believe in them, and I desire to lay open my soul to 
their more perfect apprehension. They are not God, 
though God created them; they are not man, though 
they have by divine ordainment formed him. The 
more I dwell upon their qualities, the more I long for 
the divine, the more shall I be blessed by the reception 
of their rays. The more intensely I yearn heavenward, 
the more shall I bring down heaven to dwell in my 
soul. " 

So we may hear, if we will, the spirit of the young 
inquirer pleading to us from across the centuries, and 
if our own minds ever yearned for an escape from the 
delusions of the grosser sense and the restriction set 
by crowds on free inquiry, there is no true heart that 
will not say: " You labored well, my brother. " 



AGRIPPA AND THE ROSICRUCIANS. 



The secrets to be talked over between Cornelius and 
his friend related to that study of the mysteries of 
knowledge in which the Theosophists assisted one 
another. Secret societies, chiefly composed of curi- 
ous and learned youths, had by this time become 
numerous, and numerous especially among" the Ger- 
mans. Not only the search after the philosopher's 
stone, which was then worthy to be prosecuted by 
enlightened persons, but also the new realms of 
thought laid open by the first glance at Greek litera- 
ture, and by the still more recent introduction of a 
study of the Hebrew language, occupied the minds of 
these associated scholars. Such studies often carried 
those who followed them within the borders of forbid- 
den ground, and therefore secrecy was a condition nec- 
essary to their freedom of inquiry. Towards the close 
of the sixteenth century such associations (the founda- 
tion of which had been a desire to keep thought out 
fetters) were developed into the form of brotherhoods 
of Rosicrucians : Physician, Theosophist, Chemist, and 
now, by the mercy of God, Rosicrucian, became then 
the style in which a brother gloried. The brother- 
hoods of Rosicrucians are still commonly remembered, 
but in the social history of Europe they are less to be 
considered than those first confederations of Theo- 
sophists, which nursed indeed mystical errors gathered 
from the Greeks and Jews, but out of whose theories 
there was developed much of a pure spiritualism that 
entered into strife with what w^as outwardly corrupt 
and sensual in the body of the Roman Church, and 
thus prepared the way for the more vital attacks 

223 



224 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA 

of the Reformers. When first Greek studies were 
revived, the monks commonly regarded them as essen- 
tially adverse to Roman interests, and the very 
language seemed to them infected with the plague of 
heresy. In the Netherlands it became almost a prov- 
erb with them that to be known for a grammarian was 
to be reputed heretic. Not seldom, indeed, in later 
times, has John Reuchlin, who, for his Greek and 
Hebrew scholarship was called, after the manner of 
his day, the Phoenix of Germans, and who was the 
object of an ardent hero worship to men like Cornelius 
Agrippa, been called also the Father of the Reforma- 
tion. Certainly Luther, Erasmus, and Melancthon had 
instruction from him; by him it was that Schwartzerd 
had been taught to call himself Melancthon; and many 
will remember how, after his death, Erasmus, in a 
pleasant dialogue, raised his old friend to the rank of 
saint, and prayed to him, "Oh, holy soul, be favorable 
to the languages; be favorable to those that love hon- 
orers of the languages; be propitious to the sacred 
tongues. ' ' But Reuchlin — for the taste of smoke in it, 
Reuchlin quasi Reeki, his name was turned into the 
Greek form, Capnio — Reuchlin, or Capnio, never 
passed as a reformer beyond detestation of the vices 
of the priesthood. Like Cornelius, who began his life 
before the public as a scholar by an act of homage to 
his genius, Reuchlin loved liberty and independence, 
cherished the idol of free conscience, but never fairly 
trusted himself to its guidance. To the last an instinct 
of obedience to the church governed his actions, and 
the spiritual gold he could extract from Plato, Aris- 
totle, or the wonderful Cabala of the Jews, was in but 
small proportion to the dross fetched up with it from 
the same ancient mines. 

' A contemporary notion of the Reformation, not with- 
out some rude significance in this respect, is said to 



AMONG THE ROSICRUCIANS. 225 

have been obtruded upon Charles V. by a small body 
of unknown actors, who appeared before him in 1530, 
when he was in Germany. He had been dining" with 
his brother Ferdinand, and did not refuse their offer to 
produce a comedy in dumb show. One dressed as a 
scholar, labelled Capnio, brought before the emperor 
a bundle of sticks — some crooked and some straight — 
laid them down in the highway, and departed. Then 
entered another, who professed to represent Erasmus, 
looked at the sticks, shook his head, made various 
attempts to straighten the crooked ones, and finding 
that he could not do so, shook his head over them 
again, put them down where he had found them, and 
departed. Then came an actor, labelled Luther, with 
a torch, who set all that was crooked in the bundle 
blazing. When he was gone entered one dressed as an 
emperor, who tried in vain to put the fire out with his 
sword. Last came Pope Leo X., to whom, grieving 
dismally over the spectacle before him, there were two 
pails brought; one contained oil, the other water. His 
holiness, to quell the fire, poured over it the bucketful 
of oil, and while the flame attracted all eyes by the 
power, beyond mastery, with w^hich it shot up towards 
heaven, the actors made their escape undetected. 

Now, it was over the crooked sticks of Capnio, and 
many other matters difficult of com^Drehension, that 
Cornelius and his confederates w^ere bent in curious 
and anxious study. "The bearer of the letters," said 
Landulph, in excusing himself on the plea of illness, 
from a winter journey to a friend at Avignon — "the 
bearer of these letters is a German, native of Nurem- 
berg, but dwelling at Lyons; and he is a curious 
inquirer after hidden m3^steries, a free man restrained 
by no fetters, who, impelled by I know not what 
rumor concerning j^ou, desires to sound j^our depths." 
That the man himself might be sounded, as one likely 



226 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

to have knowledg-e of some important things, and 
that if it seemed fit, he should be made a member of 
their brotherhood, was the rest of the recommenda- 
tion of this person by Landulph to his friend Agrippa. 
At Lyons were assembled many members of his 
league, awaiting the arrival of the young soldier-phi- 
losopher. His early taste for an inquiry into mysteries 
had caused him to take all possible advantage, as a 
scholar, of each change of place and each extension 
of acquaintance among learned men who were posses- 
sors of rare books. He had searched every accessible 
volume that might help him in the prosecution of the 
studies that had then a fascination, not for him only, 
but for not a few of the acutest minds in Christendom. 
At that time there was, in the modern sense, no natu- 
ral science; the naturalists of ancient Greece and 
Rome being the sole authorities in whom the learned 
could put trust. Of the miraculous properties of 
plants and animals, and parts of animals, even at the 
close of the sixteenth century, careful and sober men 
placed as accepted knowledge many extravagant ideas 
on record. At the beginning of the century, when a 
belief in the influences of the stars, in the interferences 
of demons, and in the most wonderful properties of 
bodies, was the rule among learned and unlearned — 
Luther himself not excluded from the number — an 
attempt to collect and group, if it might be, according 
to some system, the most recondite secrets of what 
passed for the divine ordering of Nature, was in no 
man's opinion foolish, though in the opinion of the 
greater number criminal, Belief in the mysteries of 
magic, not want of belief, caused men to regard with 
enmity and dread researches into secrets that might 
give to those by whom they were discovered subtle 
and superhuman power, through possessing which they 
would acquire an influence, horrible to suspect, over 



SOLDIER AND SCHOLAR. 227 

their fellow-creatures. Detaching their search into 
the mysteries of the universe from all fear of this kind, 
the members of such secret societies as that to which 
Cornelius belonged gathered whatever fruit the}^ could 
from the forbidden tree, and obtained mutual benefit 
by frank exchange of information. Cornelius had 
already, by incessant search, collected notes for a 
complete treatise upon magic, and of these not a few 
w^ere obtained from Reuchlin's Hebrew-Christian way 
of using the Cabala. 

From Avignon, after a short stay, Cornelius Agrippa 
went to Lyons, and remaining there some weeks, com- 
pared progress with his friends, and no doubt also 
formally divested himself of any further responsibility 
connected with the Spanish enterprise. Towards the 
end of this year, a friend at Cologne, Theodoric, 
Bishop of Cyrene, wrote, expressing admiration of 
him, as of one among so many thousand Germans who 
at sundry times and places had displayed in equal 
degree power to labor vigorously as a man at arms as 
well as man of letters. Who does not know, the 
bishop asks, how few of many thousands have done 
that? He envies those who can thus earn the wreath 
of Mars without losing the favor of Minerva, and calls 
the youth "in arms a man, in scholarship a teacher.'^ 
To escape the soldier's life of bondage seems to be 
now the ambition of the scholar. With the world 
before him, in the twenty-third year of his age, well 
born, distinguished among all who knew him for the 
rare extent of his attainments, Cornelius, attended by 
his servant, Stephen, quitted his friends at Lyons, and 
rode to Authun, where he was received in the abbey of 
a liberal and hospitable man, physician, theologian, 
and knight by turns, M. Champier, who, having been 
born at Saint Saphorin-le-Chateau, near Lyons, w^as 
called Symphorianus Champier, or Campegius, and 



228 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA 

who, not content with his own noble ancestry, assigned 
himself, by rig-ht of the Campegius, to the family of 
the Campeggi of Bologna, and assumed its arms. He 
studied at Paris Litera humaniora, at Montpellier medi ■ 
cine, and practiced at Lyons. He lived to obtain 
great fame, deserving title, and losing after his death 
all. It was not until five years after this visit from 
Cornelius Agrippa that Symphorianus, acting as body 
physician to the Duke of Lorraine, was knighted on the 
battle-field of Marignano. Among his writings, those 
which most testify his sympathy with the inquiries of 
Cornelius, are a book on the Miracles of Scripture, a 
Life of Arnold of Villeneuve, and a French version of 
Sibylline oracles. This Champier then sympathized 
with the enthusiasm of the young theosophist, and 
under his roof the first venture of Cornelius before the 
world of letters seems to have been planned. In the 
last week of May, we find that he has sent Stephen to 
fetch DeBrie from Dole, has summoned Antonius Xan- 
thus from Niverne, and wishes, in association with 
Symphorianus, to arrange a meeting with Landulph, 
at any convenient place and time. He has something 
in hand concerning which he wishes to take counsel 
with his comrades. A few days afterwards he and 
Landulph are at Dole together; and while Cornelius 
has left Dole for a short time to go to Chalon (sur 
Saone), his friend sends word to him that he has 
engaged on his behalf the interest of the Archbishop 
of Besancon (Antony I., probably not an old man, 
since he was alive thirty years afterwards), who desires 
greatly to see him, and boasts that he can give infor- 
mation of some things unknown perhaps even to him. 
The archbishop is impatient to see the person who has 
stored up from rare books, even those written in 
Greek and Hebrew, so great a number of the secrets 
of the universe. Landulph, to content him, antedates 



PREPARING TO LECTURE. 229 

the time appointed for his friend's return, and while 
reporting" this, adds that there are many at Dole loud 
in the praise of Cornelius, and none louder than him- 
self. The influence of his associates is evidently at 
work on his behalf among" the magnates of the town 
and university of Dole, and learned men in the adjoin- 
ing towns of Burgundy, for it is at Dole that he has 
resolved to make his first public appearance as a 
scholar, by expounding in a series of orations Reuch- 
lin's book on the Mirific Word. At Chalon, however, 
Cornelius fell sick of a summer pestilence, from which 
he was recovering on the eighth of July. As soon as 
health permitted he returned to Dole, where there was 
prepared for him a cordial reception. 

Dole is a pretty little town, and at that time pos- 
sessed the university which was removed in after years 
to Besancon. Its canton was called, for its beauty 
and fertility, the Val d 'Amour; and when Besancon 
was independent of the lords of Burgundy Dole was 
their capital. A pleasant miniature capitol, with not 
four thousand inhabitants, a parliament, a university, 
a church of Notre Dame whereof the tower could be 
seen from distant fields, a princely residence— Dole la 
Joyeuse they called it until thirty years before Cor- 
nelius Agrippa declaimed his orations there; but after 
it had been, in 1479, captured and despoiled by a 
French army, it was called Dole la Dolente. 

Mistress of Dole and Burgundy was Maximilian's 
daughter, Margaret of Austria, who, in this year of 
Agrippa's life, was twenty-nine years old. She was 
already twice a w^idow. When affianced twice — once 
vainly to France, a second time to Spain, and likely to 
perish in a tempest before reaching her appointed hus- 
band — she had wit to write a clever epitaph upon her- 
self. Her Spanish husband died almost after the first 
embrace, and she had since, after four years of wedded 



230 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

happiness, lost her true husband, Philibert of Savoy. 
She was twenty four years old when that happened, 
and resolved to make an end of marrying. In 1506, 
after the death of Archduke Philip, her father Maxi- 
milian being- guardian of his grandson Charles the 
Fifth, made Margaret his governor over the Nether- 
lands, and appointed her to rule also over Burgundy 
and the Charolois. Thus she came to be, in the year 
1509, mistress at Dole. A clever, lively woman, 
opposed strongly to France, and always mindful of the 
interests of that house of Austria, to which the family 
of young Agrippa was attached, Margaret was well 
known for her patronage of letters and her bounty 
towards learned men. It would be, therefore, a pleas- 
ant transfer of his loyalty, Agrippa thought, from 
Maximilian to Margaret, if he could thereby get rid of 
what he regarded as camp slavery under the one, and 
earn the favor of the other in the academic grove. To 
earn Margaret's good- will and help upon the royal 
road to fortune was one main object of Cornelius when 
he announced at Dole that he proposed to expound 
Reuchlin's book, on the Mirific Word, in orations, to 
which, inasmuch as they were to be delivered in honor 
of the most serene Princess Margaret, the whole pub- 
lic would have gratuitous admission. 

Poor youth ! he could not possibly have made a more 
genuine and honest effort, or one less proper to be 
used by evil men for the damnation of his character. 
Margaret was the princess to whom of all others he was 
able to pay unaffected homage, and Reuchlin, then the 
boast of Germans, was the scholar of whom before 
every other he, a German youth, might choose to hold 
discourse to the Burgundians. Of Reuchlin, ^gidius, 
chief of the Austin Friars, wrote, that he " had blessed 
him and all mortals by his works. " Philip Beroaldus, 
the younger, wrote to him: "Pope Leo X. has read 



THE CABALA. 231 

your Pythagorean book, as he reads all good books, 
greedily; then it was read by the Cardinal de' Medici, 
and I am expecting next to have my turn. ' ' This book, 
which had been read by the Pope himself with eager 
pleasure, was a wonder of the day, and was in the most 
perfect unison with the whole tone of Agrippa's mind; 
he really understood it deeply, it was most dear to him 
as a theosophist, and he was not to be blamed if he 
felt, also, that of all books in the world there was 
none of which the exposition would so fully serve his 
purpose of displaying the extent and depth of his own 
store of knowledge. 



EXPOSITION OF THE CABALA, 

Mainly upon what was said and written by Cornelius 
Agrippa in this twenty-third year of his age has been 
founded the defamation by which, when he lived, his 
spirit was tormented and the hope of his existence 
miserably frustrated — by which, now that he is dead, 
his character comes down to us defiled. This victim, 
at least, has not escaped the vengeance of the monks, 
and his crime was that he studied vigorously in his 
salad days those curiosities of learning into which, at 
the same time, popes, bishops, and philosophers, ma- 
ture of years, inquired with equal faith and almost 
equal relish, but less energy or courage. For a clear 
understanding of the ground, and of the perils of the 
ground, now taken by Cornelius Agrippa, little more 
is necessary than a clear notion of what was signified 
by Reuchlin's book on the Mirific Word; but what has 
to be said of Reuchlin and his book, as well as of other 
matters that will hereafter concern the fortunes of 
Cornelius, requires some previous attention to a sub- 
ject pretty well forgotten in these days by a people 



232 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

rich in other knowledge; we must recall, in fact, some 
of the main points of the Cabala. 

This account of the Cabala is derived from German 
sources, among which the chief are Brucker's Historia 
Philosophice and the KdUbala Denudata, a collection of 
old cabalistical writings arranged and explained by 
Christian Knorr von Rosenroth. The traditions, or 
Cabala, of the Jews, are contained in sundry books, 
written by Hebrew Rabbis, and consist of a strange 
mixture of fable and philosophy varying on a good 
many points, but all adhering with sufficient accuracy 
to one scheme of doctrine. They claim high and re- 
mote origin. Some say that the first Cabala were 
received by Adam from the angel Raziel, who gave 
him, either while he yet remained in Paradise, or else 
at the time of his expulsion, to console and help him, 
a book full of divine wisdom. In this book were the 
secrets of Nature, and by knowledge of them Adam 
entered into conversation with the Sun and Moon, 
knew how to summon good and evil spirits, to inter- 
pret dreams, foretell events, to heal, and to destroy. 
This book, handed down from father to son, came into 
Solomon's possession, and by its aid Solomon became 
master of many potent secrets. A cabalistic volume, 
called the Book of Raziel, was, in the middle ages, 
sometimes to be seen among the Jews. 

Another account said that the first cabalistical book 
was the Sepher Jezirah, written by Abraham; but the 
most prevalent opinion was, that when the written 
law was given on Mount Sinai to Moses, the Cabala, 
or mysterious interpretation of it, was taught to him 
also. Then Moses, it was said, when he descended 
from the mountain, entered Aaron's tent, and taught 
him also the secret powers of the written word; and 
Aaron, having been instructed, placed himself at the 
right hand of Moses, and stood by while his sons, 



THE CABALA. 233 

Eleazar and Ithamar, who had been called into the 
tent, received the same instruction. On the rig-ht and 
left of Moses and Aaron then sat Ithamar and Eleazar, 
when the seventy elders of the Sanhedrim were called 
in and taught the hidden knowledg"e. The elders 
finally were seated, that they mig"ht be present when 
all those among- the common people who desired to 
learn came to be told those mysteries; thus the elect 
of the common people heard but once what the San- 
hedrim heard twice, the sons of Aaron three times, 
and Aaron four times repeated of the secrets that had 
been made known to Moses by the voice of the Most 
High. 

Of this mystical interpretation of the Scripture no 
person set down any account in writing, unless it was 
Esdras; but some Jews doubt whether he did. Israel- 
ites kept the knowledge of the doctrine by a pure tra- 
dition; but about fifty years after the destruction of 
Jerusalem, Akiba, a g"reat rabbi, wrote the chief part 
of it in that book, Sepher-jezireh, or the Book of the 
Creation, which was foolishly ascribed by a few to 
Abraham. A disciple of the Rabbi Akiba was Rabbi 
Simeon ben Jochai, who wrote more of the tradition 
in a book called Zoar. 

The truth probably is, that the literature of cabal- 
ism, which is full of suggestion derived from the Neo- 
platonics of Alexandria, began with the Jews of Alex- 
andria under the first Ptolemys. In the book of 
Simeon ben Schetach it went to Palestine, where it at 
first was little heeded; but after the destruction of 
Jerusalem it gained importance, and then Rabbis 
Akiba and Simeon ben Jochai extended it. It is indis- 
putable that Aristotle had been studied by the writer 
of the Sepher-jezireh, the oldest known book of the 
Cabalists. The Cabala went afterwards with other 
learning to Spain, and that part of it at least which 







234 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

deals with Hebrew anagrams cannot be traced to a 
time earlier than the eleventh century. Many rabbis 
— Abraham ben David, Saudia, Moses Botril, Moses bar 
Nachman, Eliezer of Garmiza, and others — have writ- 
ten Hebrew books for the purpose of interpreting the 
system of the Cabala; but it was, perhaps, not before 
the eighth century that it had come to receive very 
general attention from the Jews. 

The Cabala consisted of two portions, the symbol- 
ical and the real; the symbolical Cabala being the 
means by which the doctrines of the real Cabala were 
elicited. 

In the Hebrew text of the Scriptures, it was said, 
there is not only an evident, but there is also a latent 
meaning; and in its latent meaning are contained the 
mysteries of God and of the universe. It need scarcely 
be said that a belief in secret wisdom has for ages 
been inherent in the Oriental mind, and in the Scrip- 
tures, it was reasoned by the the later Jews, all wis- 
dom must be, of necessity, contained. Of divine 
authorship, they cannot be like ordinary works of men. 
But if they were taken only in the natural sense, 
might it not be said that many human works contain 
marvels not less surprising and morality as pure. No, 
it was said, as we have entertained angels, and regarded 
them as men, so we may entertain the words of the 
Most High, if we regard only their apparent sense and 
not their spiritual mystery. And so it was that 
through a blind excess of reverence the inspired writ- 
ings were put to superstitious use. • 

The modes of examining their letters, words, and 
sentences, for hidden meaning, in which wholly con- 
sisted the symbolical Cabala, were three, and these 
were called Gemantria, Notaricon, Themura 

Gemantria was arithmetical when it consisted in 
applying to the Hebrew letters of a word the sense 



THE CABALA. 235 

they bore as numbers, letters being- used also for fig- 
ures in the Hebrew as in the Greek. Then the letters 
in a word being taken as numbers and added up, it was 
considered that another word, of which the letters 
added up came to an equal sum, might fairly be sub- 
stituted by the arithmetical gemantria. Figurative 
gemantria deduced mysterious interpretations from 
the shapes of letters used in sacred writing. Thus, in 
Numbers x., 35, Beth means the reversal of enemies. 
This kind of interpretation was know^n also by the 
name of Zurah. Architectonic gemantria constructed 
-words from the numbers given by " Scripture when 
describing the measurements of buildings, as the ark, 
or temple. 

By Notaricon more words were developed from the 
letters of a word, as if it had consisted of so many 
abbreviations, or else first and last letters of words, 
or the first letters of successive words, were detached 
from their places and put side by side. By Themura, 
any word might be made to yield a mystery out of its 
anagram; these sacred anagrams were known as 
Zeruph. By the same branch of the symbolical Cabala 
three systems were furnished, in accordance with 
which words might be transformed by the substitution 
of one letter for another. The first of the systems, 
Albam, arranged the letters of the alphabet in tw^o 
row^s, one below another; the second, Athbath, gave 
another couple of rows; the third, Athbach, arranged 
them by pairs in three rows — all the pairs in the first 
TOW being the numerical value ten, in the second row 
a hundred, in the third a thousand; any one of these 
forms might be consulted, and any letter in a word 
exchanged for another standing either in Albam, Ath- 
bath, or Athbach, immediately above it or below it, or 
on the right hand of it or the left. 

This was the symbolical Cabala, and the business of 

16 



236 HENRY CORNIELIUS AGRIPPA. 

it was to extract, by any of the means allowed, the 
hidden meaning of the Scriptures. The real Cabala 
was the doctrine in this way elicited. It was theoret- 
ical, explaining divine qualities, the ten sephiroth, the 
fourfold cabalistical worlds, the thirty-two footprints 
of wisdom, the fifty doors to prudence, Adam Kadmon, 
&c. ; or it was practical, explaining how to use such 
knowledge for the calling of spirits, the extinguishing 
of fires, the banishing of disease, and so forth. 

The theoretical Cabala contained, it was said by 
Christian students, many references to the Messiah. 
Its main points were: 1 — The Tree; 2 — The Chariot of 
Ezekiel; 3 — The Work of Creation; 4— The Ancient of 
Days mentioned in Daniel. It concerns us most to 
understand the Tree. The Chariot of Ezekiel, or 
Maasseh Mercabah, was a description of prefigure- 
ments concerning ceremonial and judicial law. The 
doctrine of Creation, in the book Levischith, was a dis- 
sertation upon physics. The Ancient of Days treated 
of God and the Messiah in a way so mystical that 
cabalists generally declined to ascribe any meaning at 
all to the direct sense of the words employed. Of 
these things we need say no more, but of the Cabalist- 
ical Tree it will be requisite to speak in more detail. 

It was an arrangement of the ten sephiroth. The 
word Sephiroth is derived by some rabbis from a word 
meaning to count, because they are a counting of the 
divine excellence. Otherwise it is considered an 
adaptation of the Greek word Sphere, because it rep- 
resents the spheres of the universe which are succes- 
sive emanations from the Deity. 

In the beginning was Or Haensoph, the eternal light, 
from whose brightness there descended a ray through 
the first-born of God, Adam Kadmon, and presently, 
departing from its straight course, ran in a circle, and 
so formed the first of the sephiroth, which was called 



THE CABALA. 237 

Kethei, or the crown, because superior to all the rest. 
Having formed this circle, the ray resumed its straight 
course till it again ran in a circle to produce the sec- 
ond of the ten sephiroth, Chochma, wisdom, because 
wisdom is the source of all. The same ray of divine 
light passed on, losing gradually, as it became more 
distant from its holy source, some of its power, and 
formed presently, in like manner, the third of the 
sephiroth, called Binah, or understanding, because 
understanding is the channel through which wisdom 
flows to things below — the origin of human knowledge. 
The fourth of the sephiroth is called Gedolah or 
Chesed, greatness or goodness, because God, as being 
great and good, created all things. The fifth is Gebu- 
rah, strength, because it is by strength that He main- 
tains them, and because strength is the only source of 
justice in the world. The sixth of the sephiroth, 
Thpereth, beauty or grace, unites the qualities of the 
preceding. The four last of the sephiroth are succes- 
sively named Nezach, victory; Hod, honor; Jesod, or 
Schalom, the foundation or peace; and finally, Mal- 
cuth, the kingdom. Each of the ten has also a divine 
name, and their divine names, written in the same 
order, are Ejeh, Jah, Jehovah (pronounced Elohim), 
Eloah, Elohim, Jehovah (pronounced as usual), Lord 
Sabaoth, Jehovah Zebaoth, Elchai (the living God), 
Adonai (the Lord). By these circles our world is sur- 
rounded, and, weakened in its passage through them, 
but able to bring down with it powers that are the 
character of each, divine light reaches us. These 
sephiroth, arranged in a peculiar manner, form the 
Tree of the Cabalists; they are also sometimes 
arranged in the form of a man, Adam Kadmon, accord- 
ing to the idea of the Neoplatonics that the figure of 
the world was that of a man's body. In accordance 
with another view derived from the same school. 



238 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

things in this world were supposed to be gross images 
of things above. Matter was said by the cabalists to 
have been formed by the withdrawal of the divine ray, 
by the emanation of which from the first source it was 
produced. Everything created was created by an 
emanation from the source of all, and that which 
being most distant contains least of the divine essence 
is capable of gradual purification; so that even the 
evil spirits will in course of time become holy and 
pure, and be assimilated to the brightest of the emana- 
tions from Or Haensoph. God, it was said, is all in 
all; everything is part of the divine essence, with a 
growing, or perceptive, or reflective power, one or all, 
and by that which has one all may be acquired. A 
stone may become a plant; a plant, a beast; a beast, 
a man; a man, an angel; an angel, a creator. 

This kind of belief, which was derived also from the 
Alexandrian Platonists led to that spiritual cabalism 
by which such Christians as Reuchlin and Agrippa 
profited. It connected them by a strong link with the 
divine essence, and they, feeling perhaps more dis- 
tinctly than their neighbors that they were partakers of 
the divine nature, and might, by a striving after purity 
of soul and body win their way to a state of spiritual 
happiness and power, cut themselves off from all com- 
munion with the sensuality that had become the 
scandal of the Church of Rome, and keenly perceived, 
as they expressed strongly, their sense of the degraded 
habits of the priests. It was in this way that the 
Christian Cabalists assisted in the labors of the 
Reformation. 

Little more has to be said about their theory, and 
that relates to the four Cabalistical Worlds. These 
were placed in the four spaces between the upper 
sephiroth. Between the first and second was placed 
Aziluth, the outflowing, which contained the purest 



CROWN 




CELESTIAL 



GREATNESS 
FIRST TO FOURTH SEPHIROTH. 



TIPHEROTH 



CELESTIAL 




THE HEXAD 



^above the Firmament; the Univer- 
sal Hyle: the First Matter; 

the Abyss. / / 

THIRD TRIAD \ YELLOW 



SPLENDOR 



FIRMNESS 



■^ 


S. JESOD / 




/^Y^^y, 


ASTRAL 


A A IsUNS 

. /\red /\ / 




>v r\i C^E y^ 




FOUND/\TION 


FOURTH TO NINTH SEPHIROTH. 



I 



EH 

n 

a 
-«{ 



JESOO 



ASTRAL 



lU 







SUNS 



F0UN0/^TlON 



MALCHUTH 



FIRE (Oxygen) 

THE WORLD OF DARKNESS- 
THE ABODE OF EVIL. 

10 



73 



O 



MAN THE SYNTHESIS 



EARTH (Carbon) 



KINGDOM UNEOUILIBRATEO 
NINTH AND TENTH SEPHIROTH. 



THE CABALA. 239 

beings, the producers of the rest. Between the sec- 
ond and third sephiroth was the world Briah, or the 
thrones, containing" spirits less pure, but still not ma- 
terial. They were classed into wheels, lightnings, 
lions, burning spirits, angels, children of God, cheru- 
bim. Their prince was called Metatron. The world in 
the next interspace, called Jezireh, angels, approached 
more nearly to a material form; and the fourth, Asiah, 
was made wholly material. From this point density 
increases till our world is reached. Asiah is the abode 
of the Kli,ppoth, or material spirits striving against 
God. They travel through the air, their bodies are of 
dense air, incorruptible, and they have power to work 
in the material world. With Catoriel, Adam Belial, 
Esau, Aganiel, Usiel, Ogiel, Thomiel, Theumiel, for 
captains, they fight in two armies under their chiefs 
Zamiel and Lilith. Their enemies are the angels, who 
contend against them with two armies, led by Meta- 
tron and Sandalphon. Lilith is the begetter of the 
powers striving against light. 

The nature of man's soul, said Cabalists, is three- 
fold — vegetative, perceptive, intellectual — each em- 
bracing each. It emanates from the upper sephiroth, 
is composed of the pure elements — for the four ele- 
ments, either in their pure and spiritual or their gross 
form, enter into all things — is expansive, separates 
after death, so that the parts return each to its own 
place, but reunite to praise God on the sabbaths and 
new moons. With each soul are sent into the world a 
guardian and an accusing angel. 



Note: Mr. Morley's excellent summary of the Kabbala Denudata may 
be regarded as fully authentic although he writes from the standpoint of 
an unbeliever. The Tree of the Cabala (divided into three plates to facili- 
tate comparison), by Dr. Pancoast, gives the more modern rendition of the 
Cabala. We introduce, on the two following pages, a newly arranged table 
of the Cabala (Hebrew letters) renderings in English letters, symbols, tarot 
emblems, etc. This table is the plainest in its terms of all others. Follow- 
ing the table the Cabala is continued under the title of " The Miriflc Word." 



240 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

A NEWLY ARRANGED TABLE 



NUMERICAL 
ORDER. 


HEBREW LETTERS. 
Form. Name. 


CORRESPONDING NUMERICAL 
ENGLISH. VALUE. 


1 


i{ 


Aleph 


A 


1 


2 


2 


Beth 


B, BH, BY 


2 


3 


3 


Gimel 


G, GH 


3 


4 


n 


Daleth 


D, DH 


4 


5 


n 


He 


H 


5 


6 


1 


Vau 


V, W 


6 


7 


1 


Zayin 


Z 


7 


8 


n 


Cheth 


CH, KH, HH, H 


8 


9 


D 


Teth 


T 


9 


10 


"» 


Yodh 


Y, I, J 


10 


. 11 


D 


Caph 


C, CH, K, KH 


20 


12 


b 


Lamed 


L 


30 


13 


D 


Mem 


M 


40 


14 


J 


Nun 


N 


50 


15 


D 


Samech 


S 


60 


16 


V 


Ayin 


0, GHH 


70 


17 


D 


Phe 


P, PH 


80 


18 


1! 


Tsadhe 


TS, TZ 


90 


19 


p 


Koph 


K, Q 


100 


20 


1 

1 


Resh 


R, RH 


200 





W 


Shin 


S, SH 


300 


21 


n 


Tau 


T, TH 


400 



Bt^^ Five Hebrew Letters, Caph, Mem, Nun, Phe, and 



THE CABALA. 



241 



OF THE TAROT AND CABALA. 



SYMBOLS. 


TAROT MEANINGS. 


CLASSES. 


Bull 


The Magician 


Mother 


House 


High Priestess 


Double 


Erect Serpent 


The Empress 


Double 


Door or Hinge 


The Emperor 


Double 


Window, Virginity 


The Hierophant 


Single 


Nail, Hook 


The Lovers 


Single 


Weapon 


The War Chariot 


Single 


Fence 


Justice 


Single 


Scrotum 


The Hermit 


Single 


Male Organs 


Wheel of Fate 


Single 


Hollow of Hand, Cube 


Strength 


Double 


Ox-goad, Whip 


The Suspended Man 


Single 


Water 


Death 


Mother 


Fish 


Temperance 


Single 


Pillar, Egg 


The Demon 


Single 


Eye 


Lightning-struck tower 


Single 


Mouth 


The Star 


Double 


Fish-hook, Dart 


The Moon 


Single 


Back Scull 


The Sun 


Single 


Head, Sphere, Circle 


Judgment 


Double 


Tooth 


The Zany 


Mother 


Cross 


The Universe 


Double 



Tsadhe, denote 500, 600, 700, 800, and 900, when final. 



242 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

THE MIRIFIC WORD. 



Now, as the creative light runs round each upper 
world before coming" to ours, it comes to us charged 
with supernal influences, and such an idea lies at the 
foundation of cabalistical magic. By what secret to 
have power over this line of communication with supe- 
rior worlds it is for practical cabalism to discover. 

The secret consisted chiefly in the use of names. 
God, it was said, gave to all things their names; He 
could have given no name that was not mystically fit; 
every such name, therefore, is a word containing divine 
power, and especially affecting that thing, person, or 
spirit to which it belongs. The Scripture tells us that 
there are names written in heaven; why, it was said, 
should they be written there, if they be useless. 
Through the knowledge of such divine names, it is 
affirmed, Moses overcame the sorcerers of Egypt, Elias 
brought fire from heaven, Daniel closed the mouths of 
lions. But of all names by which wonders can be 
wrought, the Mirific Word of Words (here we come to 
the main thought of Reuchlin's book, and to the cen- 
tral topic of the oratory of Cornelius) was the con- 
cealed name of God — the Schem-hammaphoraseh. 
Whoever knows the true pronunciation of the name 
Jehovah — the name from which all other divine names 
in the world spring as the branches from a tree, the 
name that binds together the sephiroth — whoever has 
that in his mouth has the world in his mouth. When 
it is spoken angels are stirred by the wave of sound. 
It rules all creatures, works all miracles, it commands 
all the inferior names of deity which are borne by the 
several angels that in heaven govern the respective 
nations of the earth. The Jews had a tradition that 
when David was on the point of fighting with Goliath, 



THE MIRIFIC WORD. 243 

Jaschbi, the giant's brother, tossed him up into the 
air, and held a spear below, that he might fall upon 
it. But Abishai, when he saw that, pronounced the 
holy name, and David remained in the air till Jaschbi 's 
spear no longer threatened him. They said, also, that 
the Mirific name was among the secrets contained in 
the Holy of Holies, and that when any person having 
entered that shrine of the temple learnt the word of 
power, he was roared at as he came out by two brazen, 
lions, or bayed by brazen dogs, until through terror he 
lost recollection of it. Some Jews accounted also by 
a fable of this nature for our Savior's miracles. They 
said that, having been admitted within the Holy of 
Holies, and having learnt the sacred mystery, he wrote 
it down upon a tablet, cut open his thigh, and having 
put the tablet in the wound, closed the flesh over it by 
uttering the name of wonder. As he passed out the 
roaring lions caused the secret to pass from his mind, 
but afterwards he had only to cut out the tablet from 
his thigh, and, as the beginning of miracles, heal 
instantly the wound in his own flesh by pronouncing 
the Mirific Word. Such Jewish details were, of course, 
rejected by the Christians, who accepted the essential 
principles of the Cabala. 

As the name of all power was the hidden name of 
God, so there were also names of power great, though 
limited, belonging to the angels and the evil spirits. 
To discover the names of the spirits, by applying to 
the Hebrew text of Scripture the symbolical Cabala, 
was to acquire some of the power they possessed. 
Thus, it being said of the Sodomites that they were 
struck with blindness, the Hebrew word for blindness 
was translated into Chaldee, and the Chaldee word by 
one of the symbolical processes was made to yield the 
name of a bad angel, Schabriri, which, being written 
down, was employed as a charm to cure ophthalmia. 



244 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

A common mode of conjuration with these names of 
power was by the use of amulets, pieces of paper or 
parchment on which, for certain purposes, certain 
names were written. At his first entrance into the 
world such an amulet, with the names ' ' Senoi, Sanse- 
noi, Semongeloph," upon it was slipped round the 
neck of the new-born child, so that the infant scarcely 
saw the light before it was collared by the genius of 
superstition. 

Another mode of conjuration consisted in the use, 
not of names, but of the Psalms of David. Whole 
volumes were written upon this use of the Psalms. 
The first of them, written on doeskin, was supposed to 
help the birth of children; others could, it was thought, 
be so written as to make those who carried them 
invisible; others secured favors from princes; others 
extinguished fires. The transcription of a psalm for 
any such purpose was no trifling work, because, apart 
from the necessary care in the formation of letters, 
some having a mystical reason for being larger than 
others, it was necessary for the copyist, as soon as he 
had written down one line, to plunge into a bath. 
Moreover, that the charm might be the work of a pure 
man, before beginning every new line of his manu- 
script, it was thought necessary that he should repeat 
the plunge. 



REUCHLIN THE MYSTIC. 

Such were the mysteries of the Hebrew Cabala, 
strangely blending- a not unrefined philosophy with 
basest superstitition. It remains for us to form some 
just opinion of the charm they had for many Christian 
scholars in the first years of the sixteenth century. 
Reuchlin, or Capnio, was of such scholars the leader 
and the type; as such, indeed, he was accepted by 



REUCHLIN THE MYSTIC. 245 

the young Cornelius Agrippa. He was the greatest 
Hebrew scholar of his day, and had become so by his 
own natural bent. Born at Pfortzheim, of the poorest 
parents, two and thirty years before Agrippa came into 
the world, taught Latin at the town school, and win- 
ning in his youth a ducal patron by his tunable voice 
as chorister in the court chapel at Baden, by his quick 
ivit, and his serene, lively, amiable temper, he never 
afterwards lacked powerful assistance. 

The life of Reuchlin is the story of the origin of 
Greek and Hebrew studies among learned Europeans. 
He was sent with the Margrave's son, afterwards 
Bishop of Utrecht, to Paris. The fall of Constanti- 
nople, in 1453, had caused fugitive Greeks to betake 
themselves to many European cities, where they some- 
times gave instruction in their language. Reuchlin, at 
Paris, learned Greek from a Spartan, who gave him 
instruction also in caligraphy, and made him so clever 
a workman with his pen, that he could eke out his 
means and buy books with money earned as a Greek 
copyist. He studied Aristotle w^ith the Spartan. Old 
John Wessel, of Groningen, a disciple of Thomas a 
Kempis, taught him Hebrew, and invited him to a 
direct study of the Bible. At the age of twenty he was 
engaged by publishers to write a Latin dictionary, 
w^hich he called Breviloquus. At the age of twenty he 
taught Greek publicly, laying his main stress on a 
study of the grammar; the good sense he spoke 
emptied the benches of the sophisters around him, 
and produced complaints from old-fashioned profess- 
ors. It was then urged that all the views disclosed in 
Greek books were essentially opposed to the spirit 
and belief of Rome. The monks had no commerce 
with the language; and when they came to a Greek 
quotation in a book that they were copying, were used 
to inscribe the formula ''Graeca sunt, non leguntur. " 

17 



246 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

Reuchlin maintained his ground, at twenty-five wrote 
a Greek grammar, lectured at Poictiers, and was made 
licentiate of civil law. His notion of law studies was 
expressed in a formula that has been applied in other 
terms to other things: In his first year the young law- 
yer knows how to decide all causes, in the second 
begins to be uncertain, in the third acknowledges that 
he knows nothing, and then first begins to learn. In 
the last of these stages of progress the licentiate of 
Poictiers repaired to Tubingen, and practiced as an 
advocate with such success that he made money and 
married. At Tubingen, Reuchlin won the confidence 
of Eberhard of the Beard, became his private secre- 
tary and one of his privy-councillors, and went with 
him to Rome in 1482, his age then being eight and 
twenty. At Rome he distinguished himself as an ora- 
tor before the Pope, and was considered to speak Latin 
wonderfully well for a German. After his return to 
Germany, John Reuchlin remained with Eberhard in 
Stuttgard, became assessor of the Snpreme Court at 
the age of thirty, and a year afterwards was elected 
proctor for the body of the Dominicans throughout all 
Germany, which unpaid office he held for nearly thirty 
years. At the age of thirty-one he received at Tubin- 
gen his doctorate, and in the year following, that is to 
say, in the year of Cornelius Agrippa's birth, he was 
sent with two others to Frankfort, Cologne, and Aix- 
la-Chapelle, on the occasion of the coronation of Max- 
imilian as Roman emperor. Then it was that Maxi- 
milian first became acquainted with him. Reuchlin 
had then a house at Stuttgard, and was known as a 
great cultivator of the learned languages, while he 
was also high in the favor of his own prince, and in 
constant request as a practitioner of law. In 1490 he 
was sent to Rome on another mission, and on his way 
through Florence enjoyed personal intercourse with 



REUCHLIN THE MYSTIC. • 247 

Giovanni Pico di Miranclola, the scholar who, although 
a determined antag"onist to the astrologers, was a 
great friend to cabalism and the introducer of the 
cabalistic mysteries into the favor of Italian scholars. 
By him Reuchlin was further stimulated to the love of 
Hebrew lore. When, two years afterwards, Reuchlifi 
was at Linz on state business with the Emperor Fred- 
eric III., it was something, indeed, that the base-born 
scholar was raised to the dignity of count palatine, 
but it was more to Reuchlin that the court physician 
was a learned Jew, Jehiel Loans, who perfected his 
intimacy with the Hebrew. His aim then was, above 
all things, first to study the original text of the Old 
Testament, and secondly to read the writings of the 
Cabalists. The emperor, whose life was then about to 
close (he died while Reuchlin was at Linz), saw here 
another way of gratifying the agreeable and kindly 
scholar, for he not only made Reuchlin a count pala- 
tine (his arms were a golden altar, from which smoke 
arose, with the inscription " Ara Capnionis"), but he 
also presented to him a very ancient Hebrew Bible, 
written carefully on parchment, a treasure then w^orth 
three hundred gold crowns, which is to be seen still in 
the library of the Grand Duke of Carlsruhe, where it 
is regarded as the oldest of its kind in Europe. With 
the knowledge imparted by Jehiel Loans, and the 
actual text in which all mysteries lay hidden, Reuch- 
lin went home enriched as much as he had been 
ennobled. Hebrew writing w^as at that time very rare, 
and was to be met with chiefly in the hands of Jews. 
At Hebrew Reuchlin labored, collecting Hebrew books 
and works expounding the Cabala, whenever possible; 
and eventuajjj^ he gave life in Germany, as Giovanni 
Pico di Mpandola was giving life in Italy, to the 
cabalfs£SH philosophy, the great impulse to this Ger- 
magit;(|jaiFa.l being the" publication of the book on the 




248 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

Mirific Word. It first appeared at Basle, in the year 
1495, the author's age then being forty-one. It was 
not published at Tubingen till 1514. The book was 
regarded as a miracle of heavenly wisdom. Philip 
Beroaldus told of the Pope's enjoyment, and wrote 
word also to its author that he had caused not only men 
of letters, but even statesmen and warriors, to betake 
themselves to studying the mysteries of the Cabala. 

The death of Reuchlin's patron, Eberhard the elder, 
soon after his elevation to the rank of duke in 1495, 
was followed by a period of misrule in the little state. 
One of the first acts of Eberhard the younger was to 
release his favorite, a dissolute priest, named Hol- 
zinger, from the prison in which he had been kept by 
the good counsel of Reuchlin; and for the further dis- 
comfiture of the scholar this man was appointed chan- 
cellor over the university of Tubingen. Reuchlin of 
course resigned. He had been long wanted at Heidel- 
berg, and went there to be cherished by a new patron 
in the Elector Palatine. He showed, as usual, his 
lively energy by the establishment of a Greek chair, 
w^hich the monks pronounced upon the spot to be a 
heresy; and by venting his wrath against Holzinger in 
a Latin comedy, denouncing dissolute priests, which 
he called Sergius, or the Head of the Head. It was 
written to be acted by the students. A Latin comedy 
was then a rare thing in the land; and the news that 
John Reuchlin had written one was noised abroad. 
Prudent friends counseled him to beware of such 
unscrupulous and powerful enemies as he would make 
if he attacked abuses of the priesthood; he submitted 
to advice, and as he was notoriously answerable for a 
comedy, and gossip must be satisfied, he suddenly 
composed a substitute for that first written. When, 
therefore, the day of the performance came, it was 
found that the Greek professor had composed a comedy 



REUCHLIN THE MYSTIC. 249 

against abuses in his own profession; it was a castiga- 
tion of dishonest advocates. Scenica Progymnastica 
the piece was called. 

After two years of misrule Eberhard the younger 
took its consequences; he was then deposed, and Hol- 
zinger, the monk, sent back to prison. "When the 
bricks are doubled, Moses comes," said Reuchlin, and 
returned to his old post at Tubingen. Hitherto his 
life of study had not been unprofitable, nor, much 
benefit as he received through patronage, was it a 
life wanting independence. "Whatever," he says, "I 
spent in learning, I acquired by teaching. " 

An anecdote of this good-humored scholar may be 
here interpolated, which displays his character in half 
a dozen points of view. He was detained once in an 
inn when it was raining very heavily, and of course 
had his book with him. The rain had driven into the 
common room a large number of country people, who 
were making a great noise. To quiet them Reuchlin 
called for a piece of chalk, and drew with it a circle 
on the table before which he sat. Within the circle he 
then drew a cross, and also within it, on the right side 
of the cross, he placed with great solemnity a cup of 
water, on the left he stuck a knife upright. Then 
placing a book — doubtless a Hebrew one — within the 
mysterious circle, he began to read, and the rustics 
who had gathered round him, with their mouths agape, 
patiently waited for the consequence of all this con- 
juration. The result was that Reuchlin finished com- 
fortably the chapter he was reading without being dis- 
tressed even by a whisper of disturbance. 

In the year 1502 Reuchlin was elected to the post of 
general judge of alliance under the terms of the Sua- 
bian league. His office was to adjudicate in all mat- 
ters of dispute among confederates and vassals, con- 
cerning the interests of the emperor as Archduke of 



250 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

Austria, the electors and princes. There was a sec- 
ond judge for prelates, counts, and nobles, a third for 
imperial cities. This post he held during" eleven years; 
he was holding it, therefore, at the time when the 
young Cornelius Agrippa undertook to comment pub- 
licly at Dole upon his book concerning the Mirific 
Word, Reuchlin then being fifty-five years old, and at 
the summit of his fame, high, also, in the good esteem 
of Maximilian. Three years before this date, not- 
withstanding the great mass of legal business entailed 
on him by his judicial office, Reuchlin had, to the 
great help of all students, published a volume of the 
Rudiments of Hebrew, which included both a gram- 
mar and a dictionary. This book, he wrote, "cost me 
the greatest trouble, and a large part of my fortune." 
Cornelius no doubt had learnt his Hebrew by the help 
of it, and was already deep in studies which a few 
years afterwards brought the monks of Cologne into 
array against Reuchlin himself, their hostility some- 
what embittered by an inkling of the Latin comedy 
that was not to be quite suppressed. Cornelius, how- 
ever, was the first to feel the power of such enemies. 
By the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum the monks were 
destined to come off much worsted from their battle 
against Reuchlin and the scholars who defended his 
fair name. Of their fortune in the battle fought 
against Cornelius Agrippa it is one part of this history 
to tell. 

Reuchlin wrote at a later period (1517) a book upon 
the cabalistic art. If it is written God created heaven 
and earth, he interpreted that to mean spirit and mat- 
ter, the spirit consisting of the angels and ministers 
by whom the ways of man are influenced. Magic, he 
said, dealt with evil spirits, but the true Cabala only 
with the good. He believed in astrology; and so, 
indeed, did Luther and Meiancthon; Giovanni Pico di 



REUCHLIN THE MYSTIC. 251 

Mirandola at Florence, while adopting" the Cabala, 
was very singular in his hostility to a belief in influ- 
ences of the stars. His own faith in cabalism Reuch- 
lin enforced thus: God, out of love to his people, has 
revealed the hidden m3^steries to some of them, and 
these could find in the dead letters the living" spirit. 
For Scripture consists of sing^le letters, visible signs, 
which stand in a certain connection with the angels, 
as celestial and spiritual emanations from God. By 
the pronunciation of the one, the others also are 
affected; but with a true Cabalist, who penetrates the 
whole connection of the earthly with the heavenly, 
these signs, rightly placed in connection with each 
other, are a way of putting him into immediate union 
with the spirits, who through that are bound to satisfy 
his wishes. 

In his book called Capnio, or the Mirific Word, 
expounded at Dole by Cornelius Agrippa, Reuchlin 
placed the Christian system in the center of old 
heathen philosophies, considering many of the doc- 
trines of Pythagoras and Plato as having been taken 
from, not introduced into, the wisdom of the Cabalists. 
The argument is stated in the form of dialogue, which 
is immediately preceded by a summary of its intention 
that may very well suffice here for a summary of its 
contents: "Receive, then, in this book the argument 
on the Mirific Word of three philosophers, whom I 
have feigned to be holding such dispute among them- 
selves as the controversies proper to their sects would 
occasion, as to the best elucidation of the hidden 
properties of sacred names. Out of which, great as 
they are in number and importance, occasion will at 
last be the more easily afforded for selecting one name 
that is above all names supremely mirific and beatific. 
And thus you may know the whole matter in brief. 
Sidonius, at first ascribed to the school of Epicurus, 



252 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

but found afterwards, nullius jurare in verba magistri, 
an unfettered philosopher, travels about to satisfy his 
thirst for knowledge, and after many experiences, 
enters Suabia, where he meets in the town of Pfortz- 
heim" (Reuchlin's birthplace) ''two philosophers — 
Baruch, a Jew, and Capnio" (Reuchlin himself), ''a 
Christian, with whom he disserts upon many systems, 
and presently upon the knowledge itself of divine and 
human things, upon opinion, faith, miracles, the 
powers of words and figures, secret operations, and 
the mysteries of seals. In this way question arises 
concerning the sacred names and consecrated charac- 
ters of all nations which have anything excellent in 
their philosophy, or not unworthy in their ceremonies; 
an enumeration of symbols is made by each speaker 
zealously on behalf of the rites cherished in his sect, 
until at last Capnio, in the third book, collects out of 
all that is holy one name, Jehosua, in which is gath- 
ered up the virtue and power of all sacred things, and 
which is eternally, supremely blessed." 



AGRIPPA EXPOUNDS REUCHLIN. 

Here was a vast theme for the oratory of a youth of 
twenty-three, and it was one also that enabled him to 
display the whole range of his learning. The newly 
recovered treasures of Greek literature; the study of 
Plato, that had lately been revived by Marsilius Fici- 
nus in Italy; the study of Aristotle, urged and helped 
in France by Faber Stapulensis (d'Etaples), appeared 
to bring the fullest confirmation of the principles of 
the Cabala to men ignorant, as all were then, of the 
Greek source of more than half the later mysticism of 
the Hebrews, which attributed to itself an origin so 
ancient. That he had acquired so early in his life 



AGRIPPA EXPOUNDS REUCHLIN. 253 

Hebrew and Greek lore, that he was deeply read in 
studies which were admired from afar only by so many 
scholars of his day, and, thus prepared, that he dis- 
cussed mysteries about which men in all ages feel 
instinctive curiosity, and men in that age reasoned 
eagerly, would alone account sufficiently for the atten- 
tion paid to the young German by the university of 
Dole. Moreover, while fulfilling his own private pur- 
pose, he appeared also to the loyalty of the Burgun- 
dians, by delivering his orations to all comers gratui- 
tously, for the honor of the Princess Margaret, their 
ruler, and opening them with her panegyric. The 
young orator being also remarkable for an effective 
manner of delivery, the grave and learned men who 
came to his prelections honored him by diligent 
attendance. The exposition was made from the pul- 
pit of the gymnasium, before the parliament and mag- 
istracy of Dole, the professors and the readers of the 
university. Simon Vernet, vice-chancellor of the uni- 
versity, dean of the church, and doctor in each faculty, 
was not once absent. The worthy vice-chancellor, or 
dean, appears, indeed, to have taken an especial inter- 
est in the fame of their visitor. He had himself a 
taste for public declamation, and to a friend who was 
urging on Cornelius that he should seek durable fame 
rather by written than by spoken words, expressed a 
contrary desire on his behalf. He preferred orator 
to author. When Cornelius had complied with the 
request of another friend, who wished to translate into 
the vernacular his panegyric upon Margaret, praising 
his orator}^ for the perfect fitness of each word em- 
ployed in it, and its complete freedom from verbiage, 
and desiring that through a translation the illustrious 
princess might be informed how famously Cornelius 
had spoken in her honor, and so be the more disposed 
to reward him with her favor, the translation came 



254 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA, 

back with a note, saying that the vice-chancellor had 
been its censor and corrector. Vernet was diligent, in 
fact, on the young scholar's behalf, and his interests 
were seconded by the Archbishop of Besancon. Not 
a syllable was whispered about heresy. The friend 
who urged Cornelius, in spite of the dean's contrary 
counsel, to become an author, gave a familiar example 
from his own experience of the vanity of spoken 
words. He had declaimed publicly from memory, and 
without one hitch, upwards of two thousand two 
hundred verses of his own composition, yet, because 
they were not printed, earned only a temporary local 
fame. Of the value of the written word evidence very 
soon afterwards was enclosed to Cornelius by that 
other friend who had translated his oration. Zealous 
to do good service, he had caused a copy of the pane- 
gyric to proceed, by way of Lyons, on the road to 
royal notice, and delighted the aspirant after patron- 
age by enclosing to him flatteries from John Perreal, a 
royal chamberlain, probably the same learned French- 
man who became known twenty or more years later as 
Johannis Perellus, translated into Latin Gaza on the 
Attic Months, and wrote a book about the Epacts of 
the Moon. i 

To the youth flushed with triumph as a scholar there 
came also reminders of the military life he was so 
ready to forsake. A correspondent sent him news of 
a defeat of the Venetians by the French, near Agna- 
dello, the first fruits of the discreditable league of 
Cambray. The French, it' will be remembered, won 
this victory while Maximilian, their new ally, was still 
perplexed by the dissatisfaction of his subjects evi- 
denced during the late diet at Worms. Agrippa's 
friend wished to have in return for his news any 
knowledge that his relation to the emperor might give 
him of intentions that might be disclosed at an 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 255 

approaching diet. His real intentions were to break 
a pledg-e by marching- against the Venetians; his fate, 
to retire ere long, defeated, from before the walls of 
Padua. He was renewing with his enemy, the King 
of Prance, the treaty of Cambra3^ and sending a mes- 
senger to Spire to burn the book in which he had 
recorded all the injuries and insults suffered by his 
family, or empire, at the hands of Prance. Cornelius 
cared little for Prance or Padua; his hopes as a scholar 
were with Margaret at Ghent, though she, too, being 
another member of the league, could have employed 
him as a soldier. Other hopes, as a man, he was 
directing towards a younger and a fairer mistress. He 
desired not only to prosper but to marry. 

The little university of Dole favored the j^oung man 
heartily. His prelections had excited great attention, 
and procured for him the admiration of the neighbor- 
hood. Prom the university they won for him at once 
the degree of doctor of divinit}^, together with a 
stipend. 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 

Angling for private patronage was in the sixteenth 
century correlative to the habit not very uncommon in 
these days of using baits to catch the public favor. 
Men who once lived by the help of princes now owe 
their support to the whole people, and the pains 
bestowed upon the cultivation of the good-will of the 
people in these days are neither less nor more to be 
reprehended than the pains taken by scholars of past 
time to procure a safe means of subsistence through 
the good-will of a prince. It may be said, with a fair 
approximation to the truth, that as much as a man may 
do now with the intention of deserving popularity, 
and not discredit himself in his own eyes or those of 



256 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

the great number of his neighbors, he might have done 
with as little discredit in the sixteenth century with 
the design of earning favor from the great. We have 
seen how, in the case of Reuchlin, a poor chorister 
was fostered at first by small princes of Germany, 
afterwards even by the emperor, and enabled to develop 
into a great Hebrew scholar, when one patron died 
having another ready to befriend him, and enjo5dng 
dignity and wealth with a complete sense of independ- 
ence. That age was, in fact, as far removed as this is 
from the transition period, during which the patron- 
age of letters by the great, extinct as a necessity, sur- 
vived as a tradition, and the system that had once 
been vigorous and noble became imbecile and base. 

Nobody at Dole was ignorant that the design of Cor- 
nelius Agrippa was to earn the patronage of Margaret,. 
a liberal encourager of learning. Nobody considered 
it dishonorable to seek this by showing that it was 
deserved. The prevalent feeling was so far removed 
from any such impression, that from many quarters the 
young man was urged to magnify his claim on Marga- 
ret's attention by devoting not only the orations, but 
also some piece of writing to her honor. Even the 
cordial vice-chancellor, desirous to advance the inter- 
ests of the young orator, set aside his predilection for 
the spoken word, and was among the foremost in 
admonishing Cornelius to write. Not slow to profit by 
advice that ran the same course with his inclinations, 
the new doctor of divinity set himself to display his 
powers as a theologian in the true manner of the day, 
and with theological acuteness to combine a courtier's 
tact, by dedicating to the most conspicuous example of 
his argument a treatise on the Nobility and Pre-excel- 
lence of the Female Sex. As I have hinted, too, there 
was a private example of it known to his own heart. 

Angling for patronage shown from another point of 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 257 

view! — mean arts used by mean spirits to compel the 
favor of the rich and base. But to secure the favor 
of the rich and noble the arts used were not to be 
accounted mean. 

Now let us trace in a brief summary the argument 
for the Nobility of the Female Sex and the Superior- 
ity of Woman over Man, written at Dole, in the year 
1509, by a doctor of divinity, aged twenty-three. He 
sets out with the declaration that when man was 
created male and female, difference was made in the 
flesh, not in the soul. He quotes Scripture to show 
that after the corruption of our bodies difference of 
sex will disappear, and that we shall all be like 
angels in the resurrection. As to the soul, then, man 
and woman are alike; but as to everything else the 
woman is the better part of the creation. 

In the first place, woman being made better than 
man, received the better name. Man was called 
Adam, which means Earth; woman Eva, which is by 
interpretation Life. By as much as life excels earth 
woman therefore excels man. And this, it is urged, 
must not be thought trivial reasoning, because the 
maker of those creatures knew what they were before 
he named them, and was One who could not err in 
properly describing each. We know, and the Roman 
laws testify, that ancient names were always conso- 
nant with the things they represented, and names have 
been held always to be of great moment by theologi- 
ans and jurisconsults. It is written thus of Nabal: 
*'As his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly 
is with him." (1 Samuel, xxv. , 25.) Saint Paul, also, 
in his Epistle to the Hebrews, speaks of his Lord and 
Master, as "made so much better than the angels, as 
he hath obtained a more excellent name than they. ' ' 
(Heb., i. , 4.) The reader's memory will at once supply 
the next passage of Scripture quoted, I do not like to 



258 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

cite it. Agrippa then dilates, as well he may, on the 
immense importance of words, according to the prac- 
tice of all jurists; he tells how Cyprian argued against 
the Jews that Adam's name was derived from the 
initials of the Greek words meaning east, west, north, 
and south, because his flesh was made out of the 
earth, though that derivation was at variance with 
Moses, who put only three letters in the Hebrew^ name. 
For this, however, adds Agrippa, Cyprian was not to 
blame, since, like many saints and expounders of the 
sacred text, he had not learnt the Hebrew language. 

Upon the word Eva it is further maintained that it 
suggests comparison with the mystic S3rmbols of the 
Cabalists, the name of the woman having affinity with 
the ineffable Tetragrammaton, the most sacred name of 
the Divinity; while that of the man differed entirely 
from it. All these considerations, however, Agrippa 
consents to pass over, as matters read by few and 
understood by fewer. The pre-eminence of the woman 
can be proved out of her constitution, her gifts, and 
her merits. 

The nature of woman is discussed, however, from 
the theologian's point of view. Things were created 
in the order of their rank. First, indeed, incorruptible 
soul, then incorruptible matter, but afterwards, out of 
that matter, more or less corruptible things, beginning 
with the meanest. First minerals, then herbs, and 
shrubs, and trees, then zoophytes, then brutes in their 
order, reptiles first, afterwards fishes, birds, quadru- 
peds. Lastly, two human beings, but of these first the 
male, and finally the female, in which the heavens and 
the earth and their whole adornment were perfected. 
The divine rest followed, because the work was con- 
summated, nothing greater was conceived; the woman 
was thus left the most perfect and the noblest of the 
creatures upon earth, as a queen placed in the court 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 259 

that had been previously prepared for her. Rig-htly, 
therefore, do all being-s round about her pay to this 
queen homage of reverence and love. 

The difference between the woman and the man is 
yet more strongly marked, says the deeply read theo- 
log"ian, because the man was made like the brutes in 
open land outside the gates of paradise, and made 
wholl}^ of clay, but the woman w^as made afterwards 
in paradise itself; she was the one paradisaical crea- 
tion. Presently there follow Scripture arguments to 
show that the place of their birth was a sign to men 
of honor or dishonor. The woman, too, was not made 
of clay, but from an influx of celestial matter; since 
there went into her composition nothing terrestrial 
except only one of Adam's ribs, and that was not gross 
clay, but clay that had been already purified and kin- 
dled with the breath of life. 

The theological demonstrations Cornelius next con- 
firms by the evidence of some natural facts equally 
cogent and trustworthy, which were held in that day by 
many wise men to be equally true. It is because she is 
made of purer matter that a w^oman, from whatever 
height she may look down, never turns giddy, and her 
eyes never have mist before them like the eyes of men. 
Moreover, if a Vy'oman and man tumble together into 
water, far away from ail external help, the woman 
floats long upon the surface, but the man soon sinks to 
the bottom. Is there not also the divine light shining 
through the body of the woman, by which she is made 
often to seem a miracle of beauty. Then follows a 
clever inventory of all a woman's charms of person, 
written with due reserve, which might be here trans- 
lated, if the English language had the terseness of the 
Latin. In short, woman is the sum of all earth's 
beauty, and it is proved that her beauty has sometimes 
inspired even angels and demons with a desperate and 



260 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

fatal love. Then follows a chain of Scripture texts 
honoring female beauty, which all lead up to the 
twenty thousand virg"ins, solemnly celebrated by the 
church, and the admiration of the beauty of the Vir- 
gin Mary by the Sun and Moon. 

Texts follow that must be omitted, and then the 
argument takes anatomical grounds of the most ingen- 
ious character, and shows how every difference of 
structure between the man and the woman gives to 
woman the advantage due to her superior delicacy. 
Even after death nature respects her inherent modesty, 
for a drowned woman floats on her face, and a drowned 
man upon his back. The noblest part of a human 
being is the head; but the man's head is liable to bald- 
ness, woman is never seen bald. The man's face is 
often made so filthy by a most odious beard, and so 
covered with sordid hairs, that it is scarcely to t>e dis- 
tinguished from the face of a wild beast; in women, 
on the other hand, the face always remains pure and 
decent. For this reason women were, by the laws of 
the twelve tables, forbidden to rub their cheeks lest 
hair should grow and obscure their blushing modesty. 
But the most evident proof of the innate purity of the 
female sex is, that a woman having once washed is 
clean, and if she wash in second water will not soil it; 
but that a man is never clean, though he should wash in 
ten successive waters, he will cloud and infect them all. 

Some other marvellous peculiarities I must omit, 
and pass to Agrippa's appreciation of the woman's 
predominance in the possession of the gift of speech, 
the most excellent of human faculties, which Hermes 
Trismegistus thought equal to immortality in value, 
and Hesiod pronounced the best of human treasures. 
Man, too, receives this gift from woman, from his 
mother or his nurse; and it is a gift bestowed upon 
woman herself with such liberality that the world has 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 261 

scarcely seen a woman who was mute. Is it not fit 
that women should excel men in that faculty, wherein 
men themselves chiefly excel the brutes? 

The arg-ument ag*ain becomes an edifice of Scripture 
text, and it is well to show the nature of it, though we 
may shrink from the misuse of sacred words, because 
it is well thoroughly to understand how Scripture was 
habitually used by professed theologians in the six- 
teenth century, and from this light example to derive 
a grave lesson, perhaps, that may be, even to the peo- 
ple of the nineteenth century, not wholly useless. 

Solomon's texts on the surpassing excellence of a 
good women of course are cited, and a cabalistic hint 
is given of the efficacy of the letter H, which Abram 
took away from his w^ife Sarah, and put into the mid- 
dle of his own name, after he had been blessed through 
her. Benediction has come always by woman, law by 
man. We have all sinned in Adam, not in Eve; origi- 
nal sin w^e inherit only from the father of our race. 
The fruit of the tree of knowledge was forbidden to 
man only, before woman was made; woman received 
no injunction, she was created free. She was not 
blamed, therefore, for eating, but for causing sin in her 
husband by giving him to eat; and she did that not of 
her own will, but because the devil tempted her. He 
chose her as the object of temptation, as St. Bernard 
says, because he saw with envy that she w^as the most 
perfect of creatures. She erred in ignorance because 
she was deceived; the man sinned knowingly. There- 
fore our Lord made atonement in the figure of the sex 
that had sinned, and also for more complete humilia- 
tion came in the form of a man, not that of a woman, 
which is nobler and sublimer. He humbled himself as 
man, but overcame as a descendant of the woman; for 
the seed of the woman, it was said, not the seed of 
man, should bruise the serpent's head. He would not, 

18 



262 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

therefore, be born of a man; woman alone was judged 
worthy to be the earthly parent of the Deity. Risen 
again, he appeared first to women. Men forsook him, 
women never. No persecution, heresy, or error in the 
Church ever began with the female sex. They were 
men who betrayed, sold, bought, accused, condemned, 
mocked, crucified the Lord. Peter denied him, his 
disciples left him. Women were at the foot of the 
cross, women were at the sepulchre. Even Pilate's 
wife, who was a heathen, made more effort to save 
Jesus than any man among believers. Finally, do not 
almost all theologians assert that the Church is main- 
tained by the Virgin Mary? 

Aristotle may say that of all animals the males are 
stronger and wiser than the females, but St. Paul 
writes that weak things have been chosen to confound 
the strong. Adam was sublimely endowed, but woman 
humbled him; Samson was strong, but woman made 
him captive; Lot was chaste, but woman seduced him; 
David was religious, but woman disturbed his piety; 
Solomon was wise, but woman deceived him; Job was 
patient, and was robbed by the devil of fortune and 
family; ulcerated, grieved, oppressed, nothing pro- 
voked him to anger till a woman did it, therein prov- 
ing herself stronger than the devil. Peter was fer- 
vent in faith, but woman forced him to deny his lord. 
Somebody may remark that all these illustrations tend 
to woman's shame; not to her glory. Woman, how- 
ever, may reply to man as Innocent III. wrote to some 
cardinal, "If one of us is to be confounded, I prefer 
that it be you. " Civil law allows a woman to consult 
her own gain to another's hurt; and does not Script- 
ure itself often extol and bless the evil deeds of the 
woman more than the good deeds of the man. Is not 
Rachel praised who deceived her father? Rebecca, 
because she obtained fraudulently Jacob's benedic- 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 263 

tion? Is not the deceit of Rahab imputed to her as 
justice? Was not Jael blessed among- women for a 
treacherous and cruel deed? What could be more 
iniquitous than the counsel of Judith? what more cruel 
than her wiles? what worse than her perfidy? Yet for 
this she is blessed, lauded, and extolled in Scripture, 
and the woman's iniquity is reputed better than the 
goodness of the man. Was not Cain's a good work 
when he offered his best fruits in sacrifice and was 
reproved for it? Did not Esau well when he hunted to 
get venison for his old father, and in the meantime 
was defrauded of his birthright, and incurred the 
divine hate? Other examples are adduced, and robust 
scholars, ingenious theologians, are defied to find an 
equal amount of evidence in support of the contrary 
thesis, that the iniquity of the man is better than the 
goodness of the woman. Such a thesis, says Agrippa, 
could not be defended. 

From this point to the end Agrippa 's treatise con- 
sists of a mass of illustrations from profane and Script- 
ure history, classified roughly. Some are from natu- 
ral history. The queen of all birds, he says, is the 
eagle, always of the female sex, for no male eagles 
have been found. The phoenix is a female always. 
On the other hand, the most pestilent of serpents, 
called the basilisk, exists only as a male; it is impossi- 
ble for it to hatch a female. 

All evil things began with men, and few or none with 
women. We die in the seed of Adam and live in the 
seed of Eve. The beginning of envy, the first homi- 
cide, the first parricide, the first despair of divine 
mercy was with man; Lamech was the first bigamist, 
Noah was the first drunkard, Nimrod the first tyrant, 
and so forth. Men were the first to league themselves 
with demons and discover profane hearts. Men have 
been incontinent, and had, in innumerable instances, 



264 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

to each man many wives at once; but women have been 
continent, each content with a single husband, except 
only Bathsheba. Many women are then cited as illus- 
trations of their sex in this respect, or for their filial 
piety, including Abigail, Lucretia, Cato's wife, and 
the mother of the Gracchi, the vestal Claudia, Iphi- 
genia. If any one opposes to such women the wives 
of Zoilus, Samson, Jason, Deiphobus, and Agamem- 
non, it may be answered that these have been unjustly 
accused, that no good man ever had a bad wife. Only 
bad husbands get bad wives, or if they get a good one, 
are sometimes able to corrupt her excellence. If 
women made the laws, and wrote the histories and 
tragedies, could they not justly crowd them with tes- 
timony to the wickedness of men. Our prisons are 
full of men, and slain men cumber the earth every- 
where, but women are the beginners of all liberal arts, 
of virtue and beneficence. Therefore the arts and vir- 
tues commonly have feminine names. Even the cor- 
ners of the world receive their names from women — the 
nymph Asia; Europa, the daughter of Agenior; Lybia, 
the daughter of Epaphus, who is called also Aphrica. 

Illustrations follow of the pre-eminence of woman 
in good gifts, and it is urged that Abraham, who by 
his faith was accounted just, was placed in subjection 
to Sarah his wife, and was told, "In all that Sarah 
hath said unto thee, harken unto her voice. ' ' (Gen. , 
xxi., 12.) 

There follows a host of other illustrations of the 
excellence of women, drawn from all sources; among 
others, illustrations of her eminence in learning. 
''And," adds Agrippa, "were not women now forbid- 
den to be literary, we should at this day have most 
celebrated women, whose wit would surpass that of 
men. What is to be said upon this head, when even by 
nature women seem to be born easily superior to prac* 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 265 

ticed students in all faculties? Do not the grammari- 
ans entitle themselves masters of right speaking? 
Yet we learn this far better from our nurses and our 
mothers than from the grammarians. For that rea- 
son Plato and Quintilian so solicitously urged a care- 
ful choice of children's nurses, that the children's 
language might be formed on the best model. Are not 
the poets in the invention of their whims and fables, 
the dialecticians in their contentious garrulity, sur- 
passed by women? Was ever orator so good or so suc- 
cessful, that a courtesan could not excel his powers of 
persuasion? What arithmetician by false calculation 
would know how to cheat a woman in the payment of 
a debt? What musician equals her in song and in 
amenity of voice? Are not philosophers, mathema- 
ticians, and astrologers often inferior to country 
women in their divinations and predictions, and does 
not the old nurse very often beat the doctor? " Soc- 
rates himself, the wisest of men, did not disdain to 
receive knowledge from Aspasia, nor did Apollo the 
theologian despise the teaching of Priscilla. 

Then follows a fresh string of illustrations by which 
we are brought to a contemplation of the necessity of 
women for the perpetuation of any state, and the ces- 
sation of the human race that may be consequent on 
her withdrawal. Through more examples we are 
brought then to consider the honor and precedence 
accorded by law and usage to the female sex. Man 
makes way for woman on the public road, and yields 
to her in society the highest places. Purple and fine 
linen, gold and jewels are conceded as the fit adorn- 
ments of her noble person, and from the sumptuary 
laws of the later emperors women were excepted. 
Illustrations follow of the dignity and privileges of 
the wife, and of the immunities accorded to her by the 
law. Reference is made to ancient writers, who tell 



266 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

how, among the Getulians, the Bactrians, and others, 
men were the softer sex, and sat at home while women 
labored in the fields, built houses, transacted business, 
rode abroad, and went out to do battle. Among" the 
Cantabrians men brought dowries to their wives, 
brothers were given in marriage by their sisters, and 
the daughters of a household were the heirs. Among 
the Scythians, Thracians, and Gauls, women possessed 
their rights, but among us, said Agrippa, " the tyranny 
of men prevailing over divine right and the laws of 
nature, slays by law the liberty of woman, abolishes 
it by use and custom, extinguishes it by education. 
For the woman, as soon as she is born, is from her 
earliest years detained at home in idleness, and as if 
destitute of capacity for higher occupations, is per- 
mitted to conceive of nothing beyond needle and 
thread. Then when she has attained years of puberty 
she is delivered over to the jealous empire of a man, 
or shut up for ever in a shop of vestals. The law 
also forbids her to fill public offices. No prudence 
entitles her to plead in open court. ' ' A list follows of 
the chief disabilities of women, ''who are treated by 
the men as conquered by the conquerors, not by any 
divine necessity, for any reason, but according to cus- 
tom, education, fortune, and the tyrant's opportunity. " 
A few leading objections are then answered. Eve 
was indeed made subject to man after the fall, but that 
curse was removed when man was saved. Paul says 
that "wives are to be subject to their husbands, and 
women to be silent in the church," but he spoke of 
temporal church discipline, and did not utter a divine 
law, since ' ' in Christ there is neither male nor female, 
but a new creature." We are again reminded of the 
text subjecting Abraham to Sarah, and the treatise 
closes then with a short recapitulation of its heads. 
*'We have shown." Agrippa says, "the pre-eminence 



THE NOBILITY OF WOMAN. 267 

of the female sex by its name, its order and place of 
creation, the material of which it was created, and the 
dignity that was given to woman over man by God, 
then by religion, by nature, by human laws, by vari- 
ous authority, by reason, and have demonstrated all 
this by promiscuous examples. Yet we have not said 
so many things but that we have left more still to be 
said, because I came to the writing of this not moved 
by ambition, or for the sake of bringing myself praise, 
but for the sake of duty and truth, lest, like a sacri- 
legious person, I might seem, if I were silent, by an 
impious taciturnity (and as it were a burying of my 
talent) to refuse the praises due to so devout a sex. 
So that if any one more curious than I am should dis- 
cover any argument which he thinks requisite to be 
added to this work, let him expect to have his position 
not contested by me, but attested, in as far as he is 
able to carry on this good work of mine with his own 
genius and learning. And that this work itself may 
not become too large a volume, here let it end. " 

Such was the treatise written by Cornelius at Dole 
for the more perfect propitiation of the Princess Mar- 
garet. Many years elapsed before it was printed and 
presented to the princess; doubtless, however, the 
youth read the manuscript to his betrothed very soon 
after it was written. Towards the close of the year a 
friend in Cologne wrote to Agrippa of the impatience 
of his parents for their son's return, but at the close 
of November another friend in Cologne, Theodoric, 
Bishop of Cyrene, asking as an especial favor for his 
views upon judicial astrology so hotly opposed by Pico 
di Mirandola, says that his expression on the subject 
had appeared to him ambiguous when they conversed 
together. Probably he had then been offering to the 
embrace of his parents not a son only, but a son and 
daughter, for it is said to have been in the year 1509, 



268 HENRY CORNELIUS AGRIPPA. 

when all was honor for him in the present, all hope in 
the future, that Cornelius vonNettesheim married Jane 
Louisa Tyssie, of Geneva, a maiden equal to him in 
rank, remarkable for beauty, and yet more remarkable 
for her aspirations and her worth. She entered with 
her whole soul into the spirit of her husband's life, 
rejoiced in his ambition, and knew how to hold high 
converse with his friends. The marriage was in every 
respect a happy one; there was a world of gentleness 
and loving kindness in Agrippa's heart. We shall 
have revelation of it as the narrative proceeds. The 
tenderness of his nature mingles strangely, sadly, 
with his restlessness, his self-reliance, and his pride. 

So, full of hope and happiness, at the age of twenty- 
three, he took to wife a maiden who could love him for 
his kindliness, and reverence him for his power. He 
was no needy adventurer, but the son of a noble house, 
who was beginning, as it seemed, the achievement of 
the highest honors. He was surrounded by admirers, 
already a doctor of divinity, hereafter to attain he 
knew not what. Fostered by Maximilian's daughter^ 
what might not his intellect achieve? 

Poor youth, even in that year of hope the blight was 
already settling on his life! While he was writing 
praise of womanhood at Dole to win the smiles of 
Margaret, Catilinet, a Franciscan friar, who had been 
at the adjacent town of Gray when Reuchlin was 
expounded, meditated cruel vengeance on the down- 
chinned scholar. At Ghent, as preacher before the 
Regent of the Netherlands and all her court, Catilinet 
was to deliver ii^ the Easter following the Quadragesi- 
mal Discourses. Against the impious Cabalist he was 
preparing to arouse the wrath of Margaret during 
those same days which were spent by the young student 
in pleasant effort to deserve her kindness. 

Now it was that Agrippa wrote his books on Magic. 



ORDER OF THE EMPYREAN HEAVEN. 



There is a God, all-powerful, all-intellig-ent and 
supremely perfect; eternal and infinite; omnipotent 
and omniscient; who endures from eternity to eternity, 
and is present from infinity to infinity. 

But though, from the nature and perfections of the 
Deity, he is invisibly present in all places and nothing 
happens without his knowledge and permission; yet it 
is expressly revealed in Scripture, and admitted by 
all wise and intelligent authors, that he is visibly 
present with the angels and spirits, and blessed souls 
of the departed, in those mansions of bliss called 
Heaven. There he is pleased to afford a nearer and 
more immediate view of himself, and a more sensible 
manifestation of his glory, and a more adequate per- 
ception of his attributes, than can be seen or felt in 
any other parts of the universe; which place, for the 
sake of pre-eminent distinction, and as being the seat 
and center, from whence all things flow and have their 
beginning, life, light, power, and motion, is called the 
interior or Empyrean Heaven. 

The position and order of this interior heaven, or 
center of the Divinity, has been variously described, 
and its locality somewhat disputed among the learned; 
but all agree as to the certainty of its existence. 
Hermes Trismegistus defines heaven to be an intel- 
lectual sphere, whose center is everywhere, and cir- 
cumference nowhere, but by this he meant no more 
than to afiirm, what we have done above, that God is 
everywhere, and at all times, from infinity to infinity, 
that is to say, without limitation, bounds, or circum- 
ference. Plato speaks of this internal heaven in 



289 



270 THE EMPYREAN HEAVEN. 

terms which bear so strict a resemblance with the 
books of Revelation, and in so elevated and magnifi- 
cent a style, that it is apparent the heathen philoso- 
phers, notwithstanding their -worshiping demi or false 
gods, possessed an unshaken confidence in one omnipo- 
tent, supreme, overruling power, whose throne was the 
center of all things, and the abode of angels and 
blessed spirits. 

To describe this interior heaVen, in terms adequate 
to its magnificence and glory, is utterly impossible. 
The utmost we can do is to collect, from inspired 
writers, and from the words of Revelation, assisted 
by occult philosophy, and a due knowledge of the 
celestial spheres, that order and position of it, which 
reason and the divine lights we have, bring nearest to 
the truth. That God must be strictly and literally the 
center from whence all ideas of the Divine Mind 
flow, as rays in every direction, through all spheres 
and through all bodies, cannot admit of a doubt. 
That the inner circumference of this center is sur- 
rounded, filled or formed, by arrangements of the 
three hierarchies of angels, is also consonant to rea- 
son and Scripture, and forms what may be termed the 
entrance or inner gate of the empyrean heaven, 
through which no spirit can pass without their knowl- 
edge and permission, and within which we must sup- 
pose the vast expanse or mansions of the Godhead, 
and glory of the Trinity, to be. This is strictly con- 
formable to the idea of all the prophets and evangel- 
ical writers. From this primary circle, or gate of 
heaven, Lucifer, the grand Apostate, as Milton finely 
describes it, was hurled into the bottomless abyss; 
whose office, as one of the highest orders of angels, 
having placed him near the eternal throne, he became 
competitor for dominion and power with God himself J 

The circles next surrounding the hierarchies, are 




\/'ym^. oft/i/UnltMftfcU- J/imtcfMitm*^'. 



THE ANIMA MUNDI. 271 

composed of the ministering ang-els and spirits and 
messengers of the Deity. In positions answering to 
the ideas of the holy Trinity, and intersecting all 
orders of angels, are seated, in fullness of glory and 
splendor, those superior angels, or intelligent spirits, 
who answer to the divine attributes of ♦ God, and are 
the pure essences or stream through which the will 
or fiat of the Godhead is communicated to the angels 
and spirits, and instantaneously conducted to the 
Anima Mundi. Round the whole, as an atmosphere 
round a planet, the Anima Mundi, or universal Spirit 
of Nature, is placed; which, receiving the impressions 
or ideas of the Divine Mind, conducts them onward, 
to the remotest parts of the universe; to infinity itself; 
to, and upon, and through, all bodies, and to all God's 
works. This Anima Mundi is therefore what we 
understand of Nature, of Providence, of the presence 
of God, and the fountain or seat of 'all second causes, 
being, as it were, the Eye of God, or medium between 
God and all created things. Next to the Anima 
Mundi, is that vast region or expanse, called the 
ethereal heaven, or firmament, wherein the fixed stars, 
planets, and comets, are disposed; and wherein the 
celestial bodies, and the comets, move freely in all 
directions, and towards all parts of the heavens. 

To illustrate what has been stated above a plate is 
here inserted of the Interior Heaven, with the differ- 
ent orders of the Spirits and Essences of the Divine 
Mind, distinguished by their proper names and charac- 
ters, in the original Hebrew and Iberian text, as 
pointed out in the manuscripts of ancient and learned 
philosophers. This plate shows in what manner the 
rays or beams of Divine Providence pass from the 
center or seat of the Godhead, through all the differ- 
ent orders of angels and spirits, to the Anima Mundi, 
and from thence to all the celestial bodies, planets, 



272 THE EMPYREAN HEAVEN. 

and stars; to our earth, and to the remotest parts of 
infinite space, constituting* what is termed celestial 
influx, or that faculty in nature by which the quality 
and temperature of one body is communicated to 
another. 

Theologists have divided angels into different ranks 
or classes, which they term Hierarchies, a word signi- 
fying- to rule in holy things. Ancient authors give nine 
orders of these celestial spirits — Cherubim, Seraphim, 
Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, 
Angels, and Archangels — and these they class into 
Three Hierarchies, appointing them their respective 
offices in the performance of the word and will of God. 

The rabbis and cabalistical writers have defined one 
rank of angels — or the Intelligences — as superior to 
all the foregoing nine orders of spirits, and which 
answer to and are contained in the ten distinguishing 
names of God, and are the pure essences of the Supreme 
Spirit, or the Divine Diffusion through which the mirific 
Word and Will are communicated to the angels and 
blessed spirits, and through which providence extends 
to the care and protection of Nature. 

The first of these divine essences is Jehovah, and is 
peculiarly attributed to God the Father, being the 
pure and simple essence of the Supreme Divinity, 
flowing through Hajoth Hakados, to the angel Metrat- 
ton, and to the ministering spirit Reschith Hagalalim, 
who guides the Primum Mobile, and bestows the gift 
of being upon all things. To this spirit is allotted the 
office of bringing the souls of the faithful departed 
into heaven; and by him God spake to Moses. 

The second is Jah, and is attributed to the Person 
of the Messiah, whose power and influence descend 
through the angel Masleh into the sphere of the celes- 
tial Zodiac. This is the Spirit of Nature, the Soul of 
the World, or the Omnific Word which actuated the 



ORDERS OP ANGELS. 273 

•chaos and divided the unwroug"ht matters into three 
portions: Of the first and most essential part was the 
Spiritual World composed; of the second was made 
the visible heavens or the Celestial World; and of the 
third part was formed the Terrestrial World, out of 
which was drawn the elemental quintessence, or first 
matter of all things, which produced the four elements 
of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, and all the creatures 
which inhabit them, by the agency of a particular 
spirit called Raziel, who was the ruler of Adam. 

The third is Ehjeh, and is attributed to the Holy 
Spirit, whose divine light is received by the angel Sab- 
bathi, and communicated from him through the sphere 
of Saturn. This is the principium generationis, the 
beginning of the ways of God, or the manifestations 
of the Father and the Son's light in the supernatural 
generation. And from hence flow down all living 
souls, entering the inanimate body, and giving form to 
unsettled matter. 

The fourth is El, through the light of whom flows 
grace, goodness, mercy, piety, and munificence, to the 
angel Zadkiel, and, thence passing through the sphere 
of Jupiter, fashioneth the images of all bodies, 
Ijestowing clemency, benevolence, and justice on all. 

The fifth is Elohi, the upholder of the sword, and 
left hand of God, whose influence penetrates the 
angel Geburah, and thence descends through the 
sphere of Mars, giving fortitude in war and affliction. 

The sixth is Tsebaoth, who bestoweth his mighty 
power through the angel Raphael into the sphere of the 
Sun, giving motion, heat, and brightness to it, and 
thence producing metals. 

The seventh is Elion, who rules the angel Michael, 
and descends through the sphere of Mercury, giving 
benignity, motion, intelligence, and eloquence. 

The eighth is Adonai, whose influence is received by 

19 . _ , 



274 THE EMPYREAN HEAVEN. 

the angel Haniel, and communicated throug-h the 
sphere of Venus, giving- zeal, fervency, and righteous- 
ness of heart, and producing vegetables. 

The ninth is Shaddai, whose influence is conveyed 
by cherubim to the angel Gabriel, and falls into the 
sphere of the Moon, causing increase and decrease of 
all things, like unto the tides of the sea, and govern- 
ing the genii and natural protectors of man. 

The tenth is Elohim, who extends his beneficence to 
the angel Jesodoth, into the sphere of the Earth, and 
dispenseth knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. 

The three first of these ten names — Jehovah, Jah, 
and Ehjeh — express the essence of God, and are proper 
names; but the other seven are only expressive of his 
attributes. The only true name of God, according to 
the cabala, is the name of four letters — the Tetragram- 
maton — Yod-he-vau-he. 

In the exterior circle of the celestial heaven, occu- 
pied by the fixed stars, the Anima Mundi hath her 
particular forms, answering to the ideas of the Divine 
Mind; and this situation approaching nearest to the 
Empyrean Heaven, the seat of God, receives the spir- 
itual powers and influences which immediately pro- 
ceed from him. Hence they are diffused through the 
spheres of the planets and heavenly bodies, and com- 
mimicated to the inmost center of the Earth by means 
of natural law, or the Spirit of the World, that rules 
the terrestrial world. 

While many ancient authors have contended on the 
definition and meaning of the word Nature, yet they 
all in reality mean one and the same thing, only giv- 
ing different explanations of the same ideas; and if 
their, arguments are closely pursued and compared 
with each other, they will all tend to show that the 
Anima Mundi and the Soul of the Universe is, what 
they mean by Nature. 



SYMBOLS OF THE ALCHEMISTS. 



This volume would be incomplete without the sym- 
bols of the Alchemists, as they naturally pertain to 
Natural Magic, and occasionally prove of great value. 
The London Pharmaceutical Journal, an excellent 
authority, gives the symbols we here introduce. 

Nowadays chemists write their formulas and work 
out their processes by means of symbols, and the 
alchemists used also signs and hieroglyphics to repre- 
sent the then known elements, metals, and other sub- 
stances in common use. 

The so-called elements — Fire, Water, Air, Earth — 
were represented by special symbols, here represented. 
The metals were supposed to be influenced by the 
planets to a certain degree, and were represented by 
the corresponding signs of the Zodiac. Various other 
articles also had their symbols, which served as a 
means of shorthand at a period when caligraphy was 
little known or employed. Gold, for instance, was 
associated with the Sun because of its brightness and 
perfection, for it was always held to be the noblest of 
metals. The symbol applied to it embodies these 
qualities. Silver resembles the Moon in lustre, and 
the origin of the crescent needs no explanation. Iron 
was dedicated to Mars, being the metal from which 
implements of war were made, Mars being the god of 
war, probably owing to the blood-red color of the 
planet. Saturn was the slowest of the planets, and 
lead, being the dullest and most despised of metals, 
was therefore accorded to Saturn. Quicksilver was, 
of course, most appropriate to Mercury, the messenger 
of the gods. 

275 



276 



SYMBOLS OF THE ALCHEMISTS. 



Dr. Pereira derives all these symbols from gold 
and the Greek cross, taken to represent acrimony the 
supposititious substance, which, combined with gold, 
produced other metals. Copper, for instance, has the 
sign of gold on top, and that of acrimony underneath. 
Quicksilver derived its symbol from that of silver on 
the top, because of its color, that of acrimony beneath, 
and gold between, because gold was supposed to lurk 
in all metals. Iron was supposed to contain acrimony 
of a different nature from that of the other metals, 
being represented in this symbol by the barbed spear- 
head. Fire and Water being antagonistic are repre- 
sented by the same symbol, one being inverted. Air, 
which was supposed to be a modification of fire, has a 
modified fire symbol, whilst the fourth hypothetical 
element has for its symbol that of air inverted. 
These are based on Aristotle's doctrine, which taught 
that the four elements had each two qualities, one of 
which was common to some other elements. 

SYMBOLS AND SIGNIFICATIONS. 
Fire. Air. Water. Water. Earth. 



Lead. Tin. 



Iron. Gold. Copper. Mercury. Silver. 



^^ i O g § C 



Antimony. Arsenic. Aqua Vitae. 



Borax. 



To Purify. 



Cinnabar. Caput Mortuum. An Oil. Saltpeter. Magnet. 

•*^- § @ X.-o% CD A 



SYMBOLS OF THE ALCHEMISTS. 277 

Sal Ammo- A Gov- To To 

niac. Sulphur. Tartar, ered Pot. Sublime. Precipitate. 



t ^-'^'i'^ 



Roman Symbol To To Aqua 

Spirits of Wine. for Denarius. Digest. Distill. Portis. 

♦%-V DC 8 Y V 

Aqua Regalia. Brick. To Calcine. Camphire. Ashes. Cerusse. 

^ ^ Q/i ♦♦<^ -E T 

Lime. Quicklime. Cinnabar. Wax. Hartshorn. 

OG % Ct>t> ^ CC 

A Crucible. Oil. 

-, Crystal. A Gum. , " . '^ 



Sublimated Preciptated 
Steel Filings. Litharge. To Lute. Mercury. Mercury. Nitre. 

</3 ^ $^ 1^ 

Realgar. / Sal Ammo- 

Sand. Soap. Sal Alkali. niac. 



Salt. Tallow. Vinegar. Verdigris. Vitriol Urine. Day. Night. 



-sir** • -k i^ ^ ••• 

• • • • • 

• • • • • • • 

-k ^ • 

ii a. -Ct ii -C? 

"Sir ^ T^ 

^ k • 

-k ii it it 



A MESSAGE FROM THE STARS. 



I stood at eventime. The never-ending plain 
AH empty looked and void. Yet, as I ^azed a^ain. 
An army bivouacked. Unnumbered points of li^ht 
Bespoke a force Supreme— invincible for Ri^ht. 



THE MAGIC MIRROR. 



A Message to Mystics by Direction of the Brotlier- 

hood of Ma^ic. 

STATEMENT BY THE EDITOR. 

The Editor wishes to state, plainly and positively, 
that he knows the Art of Magic to be a truth; and, 
further, that he knows of the existence of the Astral 
Brotherhood of Magic, an occult organization both 
here and in the unseen world. 

He has received the following Message to Mystics in 
regard to the Magic Mirror, that wonderful instrument 
so long used by advanced Mystics for communication 
between the two worlds, and gives it, as it comes to 
him, by direction of the unseen Brotherhood. 



To THE Mystics of Earth, the Astral Brother- 
hood OP Magic send Love and Greeting: 

• 

Until the Astral Fire is kindled by the Lord on his 
Sacred Altar in Egypt there is work for us to do pre- 
paratory thereto. 

The chains of centuries, of cycles, and of ages, are 
riven at length by their own heart-eating rust. No 
bond that comes of darkness can endure the full dawn 
of the Day. 

To carry this work into full success we must have 
true, tried, and capable brothers on the Earth who 
will act in concert with us for the uplifting and educa- 
tion of Humanity. 

No man-made law can set aside or annul the Laws 
of Nature. The educated Mystic — who, of all the 
children of Earth, acts unselfishlj^ — is Nature's own 
true instrument in human advancement. He is the one 

279 



280 THE MAGIC MIRROR. 

who has met and overthrown error and arrogance in 
high places, who has denied the Divine Right of 
Kings, who has uprooted the rule of the despot and 
tyrant, who has lead humanity with the potent weapon 
of thought to triumph over superstition and ignorance, 
and who will finally be the means of ending the reign 
of the Beast who exists only for a time, and times, 
and half a time. 

Before the truths of our Brotherhood the bonds and 
shackles of mankind are destined to melt as snow 
beneath the Sun of Aries. 

• 
•• 

You need not ask if whether or no you are a Mystic. 
Every soul contains within itself the attributes of 
divinity. They may be repressed and crucified to the 
loss of the soul, or they may be made to bloom, like 
'the lotus, to a beauty and power that may set the 
more inferior limitations of existence at any length. 

Are you selfish? This is the question you should 
ask yourself. This is the deep, underlying condition 
we most must combat. Can you lay this selfish in- 
stinct aside to work for the good of all in place of the 
aggrandizement of self? If so, then we welcome you 
to our Brotherhood. We reach out to you a hand over 
the infinite spaces, from the dim, forgotten centuries, 
and recognize you as brother and comrade. 

• 
•• 

The reign of absolute justice, truth, and goodness 
comes, at length, to every peopled world. To such 
culmination the march of mankind is marked with 
every vicissitude that the changes of fixed forces may 
imply. When such a state has been accomplished the 
planetary forces that before indicated so much of sor- 
row and suffering are found to be needful to the per- 
fect social organization. The force of war is then 



A MESSAGE TO MYSTICS. 281 

turned into the force of perpetuity, the force of delay 
and obstruction and slow decay to the force of steady, 
sure and safe advancement. 

The Infinite Intellig^ence is also infinitely good. We 
cannot judge justly otherwise by a set of limited com- 
parisons. All evil in the end becomes either extinct 
or developed good. 

•• 

If these words stir thee within it is the answering 
cry of the true Ego — the Astral self recognizes the 
vibrations of the eternal. It rests wholly with you if 
this recognition shall go by unf ruitfully. 

If you would act consider well our advice. "Be ye 
wise as serpents but harmless as doves. " There is 
much in this command. A bulb — before it becomes a 
blooming plant — lies secret and silent in the earth. 
It finds in this condition its only opportunity of exist- 
ence. Antagonistic forces pass it by as it lies hid in 
its work of self-development. So must your reason 
develop — hid in yourself. Money will not buy knowl- 
edge, nor can it destroy knowledge. Mysticism cannot 
'be measured with money. Your reason must spring to 
life from within. There is no problem too sacred for 
investigation, and it is the peculiar province of the 
Mystic to desire to reason on all problems with the 
utmost carefulness. The health of youth, the energy 
that an ardor for truth inspires, mark his movements. 
No laggard, no dotard, no waiting, shiftless soul may 
hope to overtake the nimble feet of esoteric truth. 
The Mystic must possess an intelligence that brightens 
with attrition. No obstacle should daunt him, no wall 
should bar him, no cord or chain should bind him in 
his intellectual development and search for truth. He 
should acquire facts as a miser does his wealth — to 
hold — his memory his strong box; but, unlike the 
miser, he can give of his store and yet retain his all. 



282 THE MAGIC MIRROR. 

Purity of purpose and of the physical being- is a nec- 
essary condition in traveling the rugged path of Mystic 
development. "We cannot enter into diseased condi- 
tions. We may set those forces in operation that will 
assuage deep-seated sorrow and physical suffering, 
but we cannot promise to bring music out of inharmo- 
nious notes. To try to do so would result in deep 
injury to ourselves. Be pure. 

The Mystic who lives a pure life, does not dissipate 
his forces. The dissolute man does. The unspent ger- 
minal forces give the individual a pitrp^e aura, which 
envelops him at all points. This is broken down and 
destroyed by those acts which result from animal 
instincts. With this aura unimpaired the Mystic pos- 
sesses the power necessary to the practice of Magic. 
Take heed, therefore, that this force is preserved. 

• 
•• 

We now propose to indicate the path of communica- 
tion. Should you, having filled all necessary condi- 
tions, fall short of this end, do not be cast down. To 
those who are faithful will be given much. Some other 
time — the occasion not now having arisen — we shall 
handle this problem. Even if no apparent results 
are obtained — persevere, if necessary, for years. 

While capacity will mark the degree of advance- 
ment of the true Mystic, the principle of co-ordination 
will signify the degree of communication. To enter 
into such relations with us he must place himself in a 
class of vibratory forces that co-ordinate with our 
own. To attain this condition he should carefully fix 
a practical ideal in his mind of the kind of life a true 
Mystic should live. He should examine himself like 
he would a parcel of goods, seeking both inferior and 
superior qualities, and note each hindrance and virtue. 
Then let him plan, like a general, the attack and 



A MESSAGE TO MYSTICS. 283 

defense of an ideal Mystical life. Having" done this, 
live the ideal life. Until you so live, do not expect to 
rise. As the ideal life is lived many questions arise, 
and we here furnish the answers to a few. Right and 
pure thoughts are essential. They will drive away 
and destroy all vain and frivolous fancies. Aspire 
and you will be inspired. Do the work you find ready 
to do; do not defer a good action or a laudable ambi- 
tion. The time to do a thing is when the ambition 
takes hold of the mind. Then natural ardor sustains 
the energy, and a clear conception, undimmed by pro- 
crastination, act most effectively for success. Thus 
thinJcing a,Tid doing, in the ideal life of a Mystic, you will 
make rapid progress to a point where we may be able 
to establish communication with you. 

• 
• • 

Having arisen to life you are now in a condition to 
seek relations with us through the Magic Mirror. The 
wise Mystic makes his own mirror. Not that it can- 
not be made for him, but that if be makes one himself 
it will more surely co-ordinate with his own person- 
ality, and it will not prove a bar to communication 
like one impregnated with the selfish and perverted 
forces of some other person whose sole object is of a 
financial nature. Procure the following materials 
with which to make the Magic Mirror: 

One 6^x8^ concave glass, free from flaws. 
Small amount of turpentine asphaltum. 
One pint of spirits of turpentine. 
Suitable one-inch hair brush. 
A box to hold the Mirror. 
Half a yard of new cloth. 

The total cost of the above materials shouia not 
exceed one dollar. A plush-covered case for the mir- 
ror should not be much more. There are no superior 



284 THE MAGIC MIRROR. 

materials in existence with which to make a Magic 
Mirror. The superior mirrors are always dark. 

If the size of the Mirror seems too small, one 8x10 
may be procured. The turpentine is to clean the 
glass and brush with — not to dilute the asphaltum. 
The brush should be neiu, like everything else used. 
The box may be of cardboard or wood, clean and fresh. 
The cloth should be agreeable to the touch and sight. 
You may select any color or shade you like best; it is 
used to wrap the Mirror with when not in use. 

• 
•• 

With these things you will enter a room that has been 
thoroughly set in order, free from taint of any kind. 
Let the day and surroundings be bright and cheerful, 
with nothing to disturb the agreeable conditions. 

Now, with a neio piece of cloth, clean the glass well 
with turpentine. This is also necessary to make the 
asphaltum adhere well to the back. Clean the brush 
well, also, with turpentine, some of which may be 
poured into a saucer for the purpose. Now carefnlly 
coat the convex side of the glass with the asphaltum, 
beginning at one end of the glass and working gradu- 
ally to the other. Lay the coating on smoothly and 
evenly, not stopping for any other purpose until it is 
finished. Do not go back over your work. Any im- 
perfection in the coating is to be remedied by another 
coat on another day — three such coats being usually 
necessary to make the glass opaque. 

The coating being finished, you will now magnetize 
the mirror as follows: With the right hand, held with 
the palm about three inches over the glass, you will 
describe a circular motion for a minute or so and then 
do the like with the left hand. The line of motion 
made by the hands will intersect each other, you will 
find if you do it properly, on that side of the glass 



A MESSAGE TO MYSTICS. ' 285 

farther from you, like two wheels running* in contrary 
directions. Whatever motions you feel impressed to 
make outside of these here specified you may follow 
with confidence, as they pertain to your own individu- 
ality, only do not try to g"ive any special movement to 
the hands for fancy's sake only. The palms of the 
hands should be held over all parts of the glass. A 
slow movement is better than a fast one, and at times 
both hands may be held perfectly still over the ends of 
the glass. It is not the movement of the hands that 
magnetizes the coating of asphaltum, but the aura of 
the individual. The asphaltum is a substance that 
will absorb the vital aura in itself, more so than any 
other material thing", and the movements of the hands 
should be such as will give the substance an oppor- 
tunity to absorb the magnetic aura in an even and 
orderly manner. 

When the magnetic process is finished you will be 
well aware of the fact. The hands will feel as though 
exhausted — and so they are, their aura having been 
absorbed by the Mirror. 

Let the mind be actuated by pure and lofty aspira- 
tions and desires when you make your Mirror. Let 
care and worry and self be forgotten by employing 
the mind wholly with the work in hand and the pur- 
poses for which the Mirror is being made. It is well 
to read this article over carefully, in fact, just before 
you undertake the work. 

When you have given the Mirror its coat of asphal- 
tum and magnetized it as above, you will place it in 
the box on the cloth, and set it away to dry, taking 
care that it has a place of even temperature, and 
where it will be protected from the curious. Tempo- 
rarily, a new sheet of heavy paper may be used under 
the glass, as some of the asphaltum may run over the 
edge and soil the table or cloth. Leave the paper 



286 THE MAGIC MIRROR. 

sticking to the under edge of the glass, until you have, 
on three different occasions, re-coated and re-magne- 
tized the Mirror. It will then be found opaque and 
ready for use. 

This part of the matter being accomplished, you 
will cleanse the brush in the turpentine, working it in 
the fluid as long as any of the asphaltum remains. 
When clean lay it aside for future use. Clean the 
china with turpentine also. 

• 
•• 

The ideal mystical life must not be relaxed. Keep 
it steadily in force. Examine the events of each day 
nightly and note every failure and lapse, resolving how 
to avoid future lapses of the same kind. 

The ideal life will briug you new joys, peace of 
mind, and the inspiration of truth and goodness. 
You will feel a growth of your soul. The astral man is 
now unfolding. As you succeed in attainment so you 
you will bring to yourself higher and purer forces and 
aspirations. With these comes power — the power that 
will some day rejuvenate the world — when each will 
give according to his ability and will receive accord- 
ing to his capacity. 

This unfoldment, this progress, this uplifting, this 
power — all these — cometh from within. A legion of 
angels might stand ac your beck and call and no result 
follow their ministrations. The Ego must unfold from 
within. With a heart on fire for humanity, and a mind 
aspiring for truth, and a hand eager to engage in good 
works — all these resulting from the ideal life — you 
need and shall have our companionship. 

In the first place you must give us an opportunity to 
communicate with you. This calls for certain condi- 
tions. You must secretly observe the regular duty of 
sitting at certain specified times. We say secretly. 



\ 



A MESSAGE TO MYSTICS. 287 

This is for your own protection. The curious should 
know nothing of the matter. Set stated times for 
developing" in the use of your Magic Mirror. Let 
nothing interfere with j^our sittings except sickness or 
death. Do not disappoint us if you do not wish to 
disappoint yourself. Twice or three times a week is 
often enough. Once a week will answer in some cases. 
Make your sittings from thirty minutes to an hour and 
a half, always commencing to sit at the same time of 
day. A neat, comfortable room should be used. No 
one else should be present. The mind should be com- 
posed, and, above all, patient. Let the room be dark. 
You should not be able to see the mirror, though you 
gaze at it, or rather into it. Sit comfortably, not 
bending forward, holding the mirror in both hands. 
If the Mirror is boxed, let the thumbs touch the glass. 

As soon as any Mystic is known to be doing this he 
is visited by members of the Brotherhood and neces- 
sary data secured. His capacity, ability, surround- 
ings, vibratory forces, periods of sittings, and other 
necessary matters are all carefully noted. A report is 
made of this and it is recorded. To establish commu- 
nication a brother must be found whose vibratory 
forces co-ordinate with the sitter, and who will volun- 
teer to be a companion to him and to establish com- 
munication with him at stated intervals. Sometimes it 
may seem a long while before the right companion is 
found. But if the sitter will be patient, regular and 
faithful, he may expect that the Brotherhood is inter- 
ested in him and keeps him in sight. Many times the 
Mystic will be visited by those of us who could not 
communicate with him owing to some peculiar physi- 
cal condition. We shall note his efforts and will help 
to bring him in communication with us. 

When a brother volunteers as a companion results 
soon come on the mirror. At first a milky film will 



288 THE MAGIC MIRROR. 

appear — a sort of white, cloudy appearance — which 
is the manifestation of the materialization of forces. 
This, clearing- away, a star may ]ye seen to travel 
across the firmament of the glass. This is the first 
sign of success, and the Mystic should preserve his 
calmness, and not become too eager for developments. 
When these results come you may know that we are 
with you; that we have measured you, and have rec- 
ognized you. The veil of Isis is about to rise. 

Knowing how, you should, if possible, make a Mir- 
ror for anyone who desires you to do so. Let them 
apply to you through their astral influence and not by 
reason of an advertisement. You should never solicit 
the making of a Mirror. Should you charge for the 
work, you should not ask over five dollars for the 
three coats of asphaltum. Make the Mirror invaria- 
bly as if it were for your own use, and deliver the one 
you make, no matter how much you may have become 
attached to it. Instruct the recipient to let no one 

handle it but himself. 

• 
•• 

The work here undertaken will never end short of 
the well-being of Humanity. We care not for color, 
clime, or creed. All humanity must be made to know 
that they are brethren, and that the only true good of 
each lies in the permanent welfare of all. 



Those Mystics who endeavor to follow the require- 
ments of the Ideal Life as here indicated by the Broth- 
erhood of Magic will receive additional information 
in regard to inquiries and other matters upon address- 
ing the editor in care of the publishers as below. 

HAHN & WHITEHEAD, 
Postoffice Box 336, Chicago, III. 



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